What Is Much?
by SlugBug85
Summary: AU Jess story, is & will become a Literati. Rory and Jess are 27 and haven't seen each other for years. Nothing much has changed in their lives, but then again... What Is Much?
1. Jess and Rachel

Disclaimer: I don't own the show, characters or anything like that. I don't even own the idea I'm sure many before me have used it, or some version of it.  
  
**A/N:** Ok, I'm really excited about this one.  
  
This is sort of an AU story, because the world of Gilmore is fully screwed up on the show right now, and I need a break from it. I couldn't even begin to fix it. So here's what's going on.  
  
Rory and Jess never dated in high school. They were always just friends. The kiss at the end of season two did happen, but when she came back they worked things out and -kaboom- stayed friends. Jess left when they were 18 to go live with his father, like on the show, but since they weren't dating, Keg! Max! never happened so things never got screwed up, he said good bye, she was sad, but also happy for him that things were hopefully going to work out for him and they all went on their merry way.  
  
Fast forward. Jess is now 27, and he has a 7-year-old daughter, Rachel. I say Rachel because of all the names I've seen used, this has never been one of them. (Although I just remembered Luke's Rachel... Oh well.) Jess lives in New York with Rachel, no mother in sight; she left when Rachel was one. Rory and Jess haven't seen each other for more than a day since they were 19 (at Liz's wedding), and yes, they're going to meet again (dun dun dun). Why even try to act like that's a surprise?  
  
And as for "Are they in character?" I don't know. It's been 8 years since they were 19, but even at 19 Jess matured and Rory... well, we're going to ignore Rory's growth in season four. You'll have to tell me what you think.  
  
You're up to date.  
  
And this is my first story ever, so....  
  
----------------  
  
Rachel Mariano sat in the middle of the floor watching TV.  
  
"Do you want to help?" asked the voice on the television.  
  
"No," Rachel said to the children's video.  
  
"Great! Let's go!" said the way too perky voice.  
  
She shook her head and went back to her book.  
  
"Hey, dinner's ready," Jess told her, walking in the room. "What are you doing?"  
  
"Well, I was watching this show, but then he said it was great that I didn't want to help and I figured I'd rather read Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." She held up her abridged version of the book.  
  
"Oh, yeah, he is a nimwit," Jess agreed. "Well, come eat, I made your favorite."  
  
Her eyes lit up. "Pizza?"  
  
"Oh. Your other favorite."  
  
"Macaroni and cheese?"  
  
"That's the one."  
  
She grinned and put her book on the couch, standing up and following him to the kitchen.  
  
Rachel hopped up in her seat and Jess put her plate in front of her. "There you go."  
  
"You gave me too much."  
  
"I did not."  
  
"I can't eat all this," she insisted.  
  
"Please, I've seen you eat."  
  
"You'll have to roll me out of the kitchen like the blueberry girl in Willy Wonka."  
  
"Well, at least blue's your color."  
  
She sighed heavily and began eating. "When you have to roll me out of here I'm going to say 'I told you so.'"  
  
"Okay." He nodded.  
  
"And then I'm going to be a blueberry for the rest of my life."  
  
"Good, then I can give your books to another little girl who will eat her macaroni and cheese."  
  
"You're annoying me."  
  
"That's okay, what kind of parent would I be if I didn't annoy you?"  
  
"The fun kind."  
  
"The fun kind with a malnourished child. No thank you. Now eat."  
  
"What's malnourished?"  
  
"It's what you call it when someone doesn't eat enough."  
  
"Oh. Well, I am not malnourished. And I can't eat all this."  
  
"You're so stubborn," he said, shaking his head.  
  
===  
  
"Dad, can I call Uncle Luke?"  
  
"May I," he corrected.  
  
"May I call Uncle Luke?"  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because I made him a picture."  
  
"Of what, flannel?"  
  
"No, of an elephant. He said he has the one I sent him of the trees hanging in the diner. He needs a new one."  
  
"Did you pick up your toys?"  
  
"Um...maybe."  
  
"Um... maybe? Is that a 'No Dad, but I'll go do that right now'?"  
  
"I want to call Uncle Luke right now."  
  
"Clean up toys now, call Luke later."  
  
She sighed. "You're no fun."  
  
"Maybe not, but someday you'll thank me for being no fun."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Probably not, but it did sound right. Go pick up your toys or you don't get an allowance, how's that?"  
  
Sullenly she stalked off to her room, making sure to throw a scowl his way before shutting the door.  
  
He just smiled, shaking his head, and sat down on the couch, pulling his own book out to read.  
  
===  
  
A few minutes later Rachel returned.  
  
"All my toys are put away and my books are in my shelf. Now can I call Uncle Luke?"  
  
Jess looked at his watch. "Yep. Then you have to take a bath and get ready for bed."  
  
"But it's only seven."  
  
"And your bedtime is eight."  
  
"On Friday nights it's always nine," she said with a pout.  
  
"Ah, but that's only if you've been good all week and I haven't had any complaints from Miss Simpson," he said pointedly.  
  
She decided to give him the puppy dog eyes. "But Daddy, I didn't mean to spill the paint on her ugly dress."  
  
"Why don't I believe you?"  
  
She gave her best innocent look. "I don't know. It was an accident."  
  
He sighed. "Fine, nine, but no later."  
  
She smiled, very satisfied, and grabbed the phone, taking it in the kitchen to find the phone number.  
  
"Manipulator," he mumbled as he went back to his book.  
  
===  
  
"But Dad, I want to see Uncle Luke and Aunt Lorelai," Rachel said for the millionth time.  
  
"That woman is going to get an ear full," Jess mumbled to himself.  
  
"Aunt Lorelai said she'd let me ride the horsies and everything. I really want to go. We haven't been there in forever."  
  
"I don't want to go back to Stars Hollow, and even if I did, I can't just take off. What about my job?"  
  
"We can just go for the weekend. Please, Daddy?"  
  
"It's already Saturday, I'm not going to Stars Hollow to spend one day."  
  
"Then we can go next weekend. You can call Uncle Luke and tell him, that way Aunt Lorelai could have the horsies ready. She's going to let me ride Thunderbolt."  
  
"Two ears full," he mumbled.  
  
"It'll be really fun, I promise," she stated confidently.   
  
"I am this close to dropping you off at school," he said.  
  
"You can't take me to school on a Saturday."  
  
"I can try."  
  
"Just for one weekend. A half a weekend even."  
  
"Rachel..."  
  
"Please? I'll give up my allowance for the week," she offered.  
  
He sighed. She really wanted to go if she was offering to give up her book money. "You are not giving up your allowance to go to Stars Hollow."  
  
She knew she had him now. "But I really want to go."  
  
"I'll call Luke. But I make no promises," he added sternly.  
  
She smiled. "Okay, Dad."  
  
"And I very well may end up saying no," he warned.  
  
"I know." She nodded, mostly to pacify him.  
  
===  
  
Jess sighed as he saw the Stars Hollow sign. This was not how he liked spending his Friday nights. He had been on the road with a very perky, very talkative seven-year-old for three hours, and he now knew everything she did about horses.  
  
"Look! The gazebo! We're almost there!"  
  
"What do you know, we are," he replied.  
  
"Are we going to stay at Aunt Lorelai's inn?"  
  
"As long as she doesn't make you stay with her, yes."  
  
"If I stay with her, where will you stay?"  
  
"At the inn, I won't be invited. She'll insist it's a girls' night only."  
  
Rachel smiled. "That could be fun."  
  
"You'll be in a sugar coma by tomorrow morning, that won't be fun."  
  
"When do I get to ride the horsies?"  
  
"The eternal question springs up again."  
  
"Will I get to ride tomorrow?"  
  
"You'll have to ask Lorelai, she's the one who promised to let you ride if you could get me to bring you here."  
  
Rachel nodded. "I will."  
  
A couple minutes later they pulled into the Gilmore-turned-Danes residence and Rachel began to bounce excitedly. Again.  
  
"We're here! Dad! We're here!"  
  
"I know! Rachel! I know!" he mimicked her.  
  
Rachel unbuckled her seat belt and went bounding out of the car, meeting Lorelai at the door in a big hug.  
  
"Wow! Look at you, you should be in the WNBA," Lorelai gushed.  
  
Rachel giggled. "I'm not good at basketball."  
  
"You got tall, little lady." Lorelai smiled.  
  
"I got taller since last time you saw me, but I'm still pretty short," she said.  
  
Lorelai chuckled and looked at Jess. "Come in, we won't bite, I promise."  
  
Jess followed Rachel and then Lorelai stopped them at the door. "Wait, we have surprises for you both."  
  
"A pony?" Jess asked, mock excitedly.  
  
"No. Here's for you," Lorelai handed Rachel a wrapped present, which she happily tore into.  
  
Rachel gasped. "My own camera! Dad wouldn't buy me one of these!"  
  
"I know, you told me." Lorelai grinned evilly at Jess.  
  
He rolled his eyes. "Thanks Lorelai, now I have to deal with a camera in my face all the time."  
  
"Ah, it's good for her. Creativity and all that jazz."  
  
"Drawing is much less annoying."  
  
"Dad, will you open my camera?"  
  
Jess took the package and started opening it, finally getting it out and putting the film in it while Lorelai and Rachel waited patiently. "There you go." He handed it back to her.  
  
Lorelai smiled. "Good boy. Now it's time for your surprise."  
  
"It's not a pony?"  
  
"It's not a pony, sorry."  
  
"How about a puppy? Is it a puppy?"  
  
"It isn't a puppy, although I have been told she's named like one."  
  
He looked at Lorelai. "She?"  
  
Lorelai smiled. "Uh huh. You can come out now," she called in the kitchen.  
  
Rory came out with a smile on her face and a cake in her hands that said "Welcome Home!" in blue frosting.  
  
Jess' jaw dropped.  
  
"You're that surprised that my mom wanted to give you a cake?" Rory grinned, handing the cake to her mom and giving Jess a hug. "You should know by now that she'll use any excuse."  
  
"What are you doing here?" he asked.  
  
"Mom called me Tuesday and told me that you were coming to Stars Hollow, she thought if I could get off work for the weekend I could come up and surprise you."  
  
Rachel pulled on Jess' shirt almost shyly.  
  
"Oh! Rory, you remember Rachel, right?"  
  
Rory smiled. "Wow, I haven't seen you since you were two," Rory said.  
  
"I'm seven now," Rachel said.  
  
"I know. You got a lot bigger." She smiled.  
  
"Uh huh." Rachel nodded.  
  
"Hey munchkin, want to come with me and see if Robbie's up yet?" Lorelai asked.  
  
Rachel nodded and followed Lorelai.  
  
"She's beautiful," Rory told Jess.  
  
"Thank you." He nodded, agreeing.  
  
"So..."  
  
"Yeah..."  
  
"Want to go for a walk?" she asked.  
  
"Sure, why not see if Stars Hollow has changed?" He shrugged.  
  
"Oh, it did. Didn't Luke tell you? Miss Patty got married."  
  
"Again?"  
  
"Yep."  
  
"Huh. You'd think she'd tire of weddings."  
  
"The theme was Hairspray."  
  
"Hairspray?"  
  
"The musical." Rory nodded.  
  
"You're kidding, right?"  
  
She shook her head solemnly. "Nope."  
  
"Wow, this town is more screwed up than I thought."  
  
She smiled and they walked in a small silence.   
  
"So, where do you live now?" Jess asked Rory.  
  
"New York."  
  
"Oh yeah? Are you a reporter yet?"  
  
She nodded proudly. "New York Times, three and a half years and going strong."  
  
"Congratulations."  
  
"Thank you. What do you do?"  
  
"Ah, nothing important."  
  
"Oh, come on, what do you do? I'll pout if you don't tell me."  
  
"I have two jobs. I'm a copy editor by day, it's actually a pretty good job for me. I get paid to read."  
  
She smiled. "Sounds like a good job. What's your other job?"  
  
"Bartender. Not glamorous, but I have to pay my rent and I won't get a roommate because I'm not about to invite some stranger to come live with my daughter. So..."  
  
"Oh, well, that's nice. I mean, it's... yeah."  
  
"Yeah." He nodded. "It's only in the evenings, from 8 to 12 Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Rachel's sleeping, so I'm not sacrificing time with her or anything."  
  
"Oh, so it's when Rachel's sleeping, that's good, that way you can spend time with her."  
  
"Yeah, I wanted to get one while she's sleeping. She doesn't know I work two jobs, I don't really want her to. I mean, who wants Daddy to be a bartender? It's not quite a career that invokes pride."  
  
"At least you're willing to do what you have to do to make a nice life for your daughter. That invokes pride," she said.  
  
He shrugged.   
  
"It does," she insisted.  
  
"Well, it's not the one I'll tell about on career day, let's put it that way," he said with a small smile.  
  
She smiled. "I still find it hard to believe you're a father."  
  
"Jeez, seven years and you still haven't digested it?"  
  
"Well, in my defense I only got to see you one time since she was born."  
  
"True." He nodded.  
  
"Hey, I have an idea." She stopped walking.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Why don't we go back and get Rachel and I'll take you guys to lunch, we can catch up, Rachel can get to know me a little so maybe she won't hide behind you when I'm around and we get to eat. It's a very good plan."  
  
"You think anything that involves eating is a good plan."  
  
"Well, other than than cannibalism, anything involving eating _is_ a good plan," she said.  
  
He smiled and rolled his eyes before turning around and following Rory back to the house to get Rachel.  
  
----------------  
  
**A/N:** Okay, so the ending didn't rock. But please tell me what you think of the story! This is my first fanfic and I'd like to know if I should bother wasting my time writing, or if I suck so bad I should throw in the towel. points to the bottom left hand corner See that? Isn't it pretty? I wonder what would happen if you clicked it... 


	2. Sleep, Stuart Little!

Disclaimer: I own Rachel, I'm very happy about that. But as for the rest of it, no, I don't own it. If I did there would be a Literati storyline and Jess would be happy and with Rory, who would be ...good.  
  
**A/N:** Wow!! I'm still blushing! I didn't expect to get such a great response! I swear, I'll be smiling for the next century or so. Hugs you all I love reviews! That's why I couldn't wait to update anymore! I had to do it right now! I was too excited!  
  
Okay, now, I'm going to explain this Jess/child situation here, because it may come up in the story, but not in an orderly fashion, because since it's been seven whole years it's not so much of a shock. Jess had a girlfriend. Did I name her yet? No, okay, I'm naming her now. How does Olivia sound? Jess and Olivia were absolutely not planning to have a child, Rachel was a pleasant little surprise. Olivia stuck around for awhile, she thought it might be fun to play house. Then, after a year, she got tired of playing and she up and left. Now, there will be more on that in this chapter, because Jess and Rory only saw each other one time since Rachel was even born, when she was two. So I think there will be more Jess/Rory interaction in this chapter and I may head into that stuff.  
  
Once again bows down to you Thank you for the reviews! You guys rock! Thanks for the feedback and tips.   
  
_- Kate  
_  
:)  
  
------------------  
  
Rachel smoothed her bright green t-shirt and white pants and hopped up on the seat in Luke's.  
  
"Where's Uncle Luke?" she asked Jess.  
  
"He's probably in the back somewhere, he'll come out eventually," Jess said.  
  
"I want to give him his picture."  
  
"Could I see your picture?" Rory asked.  
  
Rachel nodded and handed Rory the picture.  
  
"Wow, that's very pretty. I still can't draw that good."  
  
Rachel smiled. "Thank you."  
  
"You're welcome. Luke's going to love it."  
  
"I hope so. I like when he hangs my pictures up," Rachel said.  
  
When Luke popped out from the storeroom Rachel hopped down and went over to him, wrapping her arms around him and hugging him.  
  
Rory smiled and Jess snickered. "Look how uncomfortable she makes him."  
  
Rory laughed quietly. "It's cute," she said.  
  
"It's funny."  
  
"Hey, I'll ask you while she isn't over here. When we get done could you guys come over and watch a movie with us? I know she has a bedtime and everything but it is a special occasion. You only come to Stars Hollow about once every leap year."  
  
"We could probably do that, but she'll probably fall asleep," he told her.  
  
"Okay. I'll let her pick the movie."  
  
"I already know what that's going to be," Jess said as Rachel came over to them.  
  
"Hey, Rachel," Rory started.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Do you want to come over and watch a movie with us? It'll get you out of bedtime." Rory smiled.  
  
"Yeah! Can we watch Willy Wonka?"  
  
Rory grinned. "She likes Willy Wonka?"  
  
"She has an unhealthy obsession." Jess nodded.  
  
"Yeah, Dad tried to turn me into the blueberry girl last week."  
  
"She's being dramatic," Jess said dismissively.  
  
"I was more blue when dinner was over," she insisted.  
  
"Hypochondriac." Jess pointed to Rachel.  
  
Rachel frowned. "What?"  
  
Rory laughed softly as Jess just smirked at Rachel and leaned back in his chair.  
  
"I hate when he uses words I don't know," Rachel told Rory. "I hate when you do that," she said to Jess.  
  
"I know," he said, smirking.  
  
She rolled her eyes. "I'm hungry."  
  
"So you'll take ten of everything?" Jess assumed.  
  
"No, I don't want anything with onions."  
  
"You have to see her eat. It's a battle to get her to eat, but when she does, she rivals the Gilmores," Jess said.  
  
Rory gasped. "No way!"  
  
"Yep." He nodded. "It's scary."  
  
"Dad, will Uncle Luke cut my grilled cheese in stars like you do?" Rachel asked as she looked at the menu.  
  
"Of course he will, if he doesn't hug him some more, he'll cave."  
  
Rory grinned. "You cut grilled cheese in stars?"  
  
"Yes, it's one of my many collected talents." He nodded.  
  
"He'll only do triangles if he's in a hurry," Rachel added.  
  
"Aw, I want to see them," Rory said.  
  
"You don't know what a star looks like?" Jess asked.  
  
"I want to see your stars."  
  
"He makes good ones," Rachel said, nodding.  
  
"I'll bet." Rory nodded with a smile.  
  
===  
  
"Wow, she's a good eater," Rory told Jess as they walked back to the house.  
  
"I don't know where she puts it all." He shook his head.  
  
"In my tummy, Dad," Rachel said.  
  
"But you have a little tummy," he said, leaning down to tickle her stomach.   
  
She giggled and elbowed him. "Stop that."  
  
He smiled and ruffled her hair.  
  
"Dad!" she scolded him and reached up to smooth her hair down.  
  
Rory laughed at the two and ruffled Jess' hair.  
  
"Hey." He frowned.  
  
"How do you like it?" she asked with a smile.  
  
He smirked and messed up her hair.  
  
"Jess Mariano, stop that." She smoothed her hair back down.  
  
"We're even now," he said.  
  
"Will you read me Ella Enchanted tonight?" Rachel asked.  
  
"Did you bring it?" he asked.  
  
"Yeah." She nodded.  
  
"Then yes, I will read Ella Enchanted tonight."  
  
"Promise?"  
  
"When have I ever not read a book when I said I would?" he asked.  
  
"Never."  
  
"Well, I'm not going to start now."  
  
"Okay." She grinned and wrapped her arm around his waist.  
  
He smiled down at her and pulled her closer.  
  
===  
  
"What are we doing?" Lorelai asked, crouching down next to Rory.  
  
"Mom! You scared me." Rory frowned at her mother.  
  
"Sorry. Where's Jess? Where's Rachel? Did everyone leave me?"  
  
"No, Jess just went to help her pick out her pajamas, although she was fighting him on it. But he said last time she dressed herself for bedtime she ended up in a skirt and necklace."  
  
"He's good with her." Lorelai smiled.  
  
"Yeah, he is. Very good with her," Rory said, smiling. "He just wants to make sure she's dressed and has her teeth brushed before the movie because he doesn't think she'll stay awake."  
  
"Aw. She's cute."  
  
"Very cute. She looks just like him."  
  
Lorelai grinned a teasing grin. "Are you saying Jess is cute?"  
  
Rory blushed. "Oh, mother," she said dismissively.  
  
Lorelai giggled. "You think he's cute."  
  
"I think you're 12," Rory said.  
  
"Fine, I'm leaving. I'm going to bed, you have fun."  
  
"We will. Good night, Mom."  
  
"Good night, hon," Lorelai said, kissing Rory on the forehead.  
  
Just then Jess and Rachel came back in.  
  
"Give Aunt Lorelai a kiss good night," Lorelai said, opening her arms up.  
  
Rachel ran over and hugged Lorelai, giving her a kiss. "Good night."  
  
"Tomorrow you ride Thunderbolt," Lorelai reminded her.  
  
"Yay! I can't wait to ride a horse," she said happily.  
  
Lorelai smiled. "You won't have to wait much longer. Good night Jess," she said.  
  
"Aw, no hug for me?"   
  
"Do you really want one?"  
  
"No, that was my sarcastic charm," he informed her.  
  
"Thought so. 'Night all," she said before going upstairs.  
  
"Ready to watch Willy Wonka?" Rory asked.  
  
"Yeah!" Rachel said.  
  
"You're not tired?"  
  
She shook her head. "Not at all."  
  
"Not even a little?" Jess asked.  
  
"Nope, I could stay up all night," Rachel insisted.  
  
===  
  
When the movie credits finally started rolling Rachel was fast asleep curled up in Jess' arms and her feet were in Rory's lap.  
  
"She could stay up all night," Rory said teasingly.  
  
He smiled. "She always thinks that. Give me a minute to take her to bed." He stood up and shifted Rachel in his arms.  
  
"Okay." Rory nodded.  
  
Jess took Rachel in and tucked her into Rory's old bed. He kissed her on the forehead. "Good night, baby."  
  
"Daddy?" she asked sleepily.  
  
"Yep. You fell asleep."  
  
"Oh... You didn't read to me."  
  
"You still want me to read?"  
  
"Uh huh." She nodded.  
  
"Okay, I'll read you a few pages, then you have to go to sleep so you can ride the horse tomorrow."  
  
"Okay." She nodded.  
  
Jess took the book out of her bag and started reading. It didn't take very long for her to start falling asleep. Just when Jess thought she was asleep he put the book down and turned out the light, then he noticed a small smile form on her face.  
  
"Are you asleep?"  
  
"Yes," she replied.  
  
He chuckled. "Then why are you talking?"  
  
"Oops. Oh well, now that you know I'm awake I can tell you about my day at school."  
  
"You told me about your day in the car."  
  
"I know, but I left pieces out," she told him.  
  
"Oh. Okay, well... how was your day?"  
  
"Good. But remember that boy I kept telling you always chases me around the playground?"  
  
"Yes." He nodded.  
  
"Well, today he finally caught me, and guess what he asked me?"  
  
"What did he ask you?"  
  
"I said guess, silly."  
  
"He asked you to be the queen of the world?"  
  
"That was a silly guess."  
  
"Yeah, well, I try. What did he ask?"  
  
"He asked me to be his girlfriend."  
  
Jess' heart stopped beating for a minute. "What?"  
  
"Yeah. He asked me to be his girlfriend," Rachel said.  
  
"And you said...?"  
  
"I said the teacher was coming and I had to go."  
  
"Oh. Okay."  
  
"I figure he'll forget by Monday," she reasoned.  
  
"Probably. He is young. Small attention span."  
  
"Yeah. But he's kind of cute."  
  
"What happened to boys having cooties? I thought boys had cooties in second grade," Jess said.  
  
"No, that's first grade. Actually it's the same boy who used to say I had cooties in first grade. His name's Kenny."  
  
"Kenny." He nodded. "Nice name."  
  
"Yeah. I can handle him. He gave me a valentine card for Valentine's Day."  
  
"Don't all the kids give valentines?"  
  
"Yeah, but he gave me a really big one, it was actually a card. Everyone else got a Looney Tune character valentine, mine had pretty little hearts on it. I think his mom helped him design it."  
  
"Huh."  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Valentine's Day was awhile ago," Jess reviewed.  
  
"Yeah," she said again.  
  
"He still likes you."  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"You're so young," Jess said.  
  
"Well, you're old."  
  
"Be nice to me, Stuart Little, I control your bookshelf and I could easily take it out of your room."  
  
She gasped. "You wouldn't!"  
  
"Be nice and we won't have to find out."  
  
"Okay, I'm ready to go to bed now."  
  
He smiled. "I annoyed you now, huh?"  
  
"I'm just sleepy," she said.  
  
"Uh huh." He nodded, unconvinced. He leaned down and gave her a kiss. "Good night, honey."  
  
"'Night, Daddy."  
  
Jess closed her door most of the way and went back to the living room.  
  
"She asleep?" Rory asked.  
  
"Yeah." Jess nodded. "Or she will be in a few minutes."  
  
"She's so adorable."  
  
"You sound surprised. She is _my_ daughter you know," he teased.  
  
Rory laughed softly and elbowed him. "Step away from the ego."  
  
He smiled and looked down. "Stepping away now. No, she really is a good girl most of the time."  
  
"Only most of the time?"  
  
"Well... she has her moments. She's always a good girl the first part of the year, but these past couple school years she's only been good until May."  
  
"Why only until May?" Rory asked, confused.  
  
"Well, when Mother's Day comes around she gets... she starts acting up. Her latest stunt was dumping paint on the teacher's dress. I thought it was just a phase she was going through last year, but then she did it again this year and I asked why, of course, because the teacher actually called me to talk about the 'situation' with Rachel. That's when she put together the Mother's Day piece of the puzzle."  
  
"Aww," Rory said sadly.  
  
"Yeah. She likes Father's Day though, so..."  
  
"Don't you have anyone that she could..."  
  
"What? Use as a mom? No. Unfortunately they haven't put a Mommies 'R' Us in New York yet," he said.  
  
"Well, I know, but don't you have a girlfriend or friend or someone who could spend time with her?"  
  
"Nope. I've had a couple dates, but nothing that was going to last, and besides, she doesn't want a 'lady friend', she wants a mom, and unfortunately I can't seem to pull one out of her ear."  
  
"But I'll bet she's got a few quarters from you trying, right?" Rory said lightly.  
  
He smiled slightly. "She's made a fortune off me."  
  
"Whatever happened to her mom?" Rory asked.  
  
"Well... she wasn't really in it for the long haul. She thought having a kid might be fun, and it was at first... after a few late night feedings she got annoyed, but she lived. She stuck around for awhile, but I think there were a couple factors in her leaving. One big one was me, she kept hinting around --or so my friend who was a girl and called me an ignorant jackass told me-- at getting married. I wasn't taking the hint. Well, I kind of was, she was pretty obvious, but I was ignoring it." He nodded. "Anyway, that was one of the reasons. She wanted to get married, I didn't. Then of course Rachel started teething and keeping her up late again, so it wasn't fun anymore. She finally got fed up with the fighting and not having any freedom to go out and do whatever she wanted to do whenever she wanted to do it and she just left. She left a note one night and left. That was it."  
  
"Well, why didn't you just... get married? You two did have a baby together, you had been together for awhile."  
  
"No." He shook his head. "We fought too much for one thing. When I was growing up my mom and her second husband fought all the time, I would just sit in my room and listen to them yelling at each other through the wall. I wasn't willing to put Rachel through that. God, who wants a female version of me running around? Plus, I mean, just because we had Rachel is not a good reason to get married. It would have just ended in divorce anyway, so I thought why start something you know you're not going to finish? It would just be too hard on Rachel. Besides, if the woman was that willing to abandon her child we're better off without her anyway," he said, more to assure himself than her.  
  
Rory nodded supportively.  
  
"I just wish Rachel would see it that way," he added.  
  
"She's young, she wants to have a mom, of course she's not going to look at it that way," Rory reasoned.  
  
"I know, but it just... I feel bad when she goes through this, because Olivia would have probably stuck around if I _would_ have married her. Then Rachel wouldn't have to worry about Mother's Day."  
  
"Did _you_ like Mother's Day?"  
  
"What? What does that have to do with anything?"  
  
"Well, if Rachel would've just grown up like you did anyway..."  
  
He glanced down. "I hated it."  
  
She nodded. "So, it might be better that Rachel has just one parent who's reliable. If you would have married Olivia you'd probably both be miserable and then she wouldn't have _any_ reliable parents. That would kind of defeat the purpose."  
  
He nodded. "You're probably right."  
  
"I always am," she said to lighten the mood.  
  
He smiled and hit her with a pillow.  
  
She gasped. "That's it, you asked for it Mr. Mariano." She grabbed a pillow and attacked him with it.  
  
He laughed as they rolled off the couch and tried to quietly continue their pillow fight. For a few minutes, all was right in his world again.  
  
--------------------  
  
**A/N:** Okay, yes, the ending line was a little cheesy, but I was trying to figure out a parting line! That's all I could come up with! And cheese is good with wine!   
  
Sorry. Anyway, tell me what you think! Good? Bad? Cheesy? Good? Oh wait, I said that. Well, you get hte point! I love your reviews! You're all heroic just for pushing that little button in the left hand corner. Honest. Hands over a trophy to anyone who reviews 


	3. Jesse James and Calamity Jane

Disclaimer: I still don't own the Gilmore Girls (Thank God for unanswered prayers). sigh (asterisks don't work anymore. It makes me sad.)  
  
**A/N:** Okay, this chapter is sort of just a filler, I had considered jamming the whole thing into one, but I'm not going to. I'm going to break it up.  
  
Reviewers! _squeals_ Do you know how much I love thee? Let me count the ways... 'cept that I screwed that line up, so I will not proceed to chop up anymore. But I do! I do! I feel like Milo brought me flowers!   
  
**jlangblues891:** _squeal_ You reviewed my story! I loved that line, too! And no, it doesn't sound crazy, because I could see Jess in my head, too. I could see his eyebrows raising slightly and... I can just see the way he would say that. It was very cute, alas it had to be written. That's quite possibly one of my favorite lines, and Rachel is quite possibly one of my favorite characters, because she's cute, little and -unlike _some_ people glares at Rory - wouldn't hurt Jess. You just can't go wrong there. I hate Dean. That adulterous loser.  
  
**Poodernite:** grin Yeah, I already have a cute scene planned there, I just have to make myself write it. It's not for another couple chapters anyway.  
  
I'm very glad everyone liked how I had Rory and Jess come back to each other. I considered the big dramatic ballad-y music, slow motion, the world stopped spinning and everyone disappeared... then realized I am not Ken Corday. So I went with the cake instead. Plus, I like cake. Everyone likes cake except a select few people that I don't claim to understand. Great. Now I want cake.  
  
Now all the Narcos are back full force thanks to Tuesday's... lovely episode. Stupid Rory. But hey, I do think she realized it was a mistake. Last night I was ready to take heads of, but I talked to my _made_ me, but..influenced me) and she brought me back down. People make mistakes, Lorelai was a good mother last night, and, well, Jess was no virgin either, so now they're...not really even, but still. I'm done now. And I don't want to watch the show ever again, and yet...  
  
But now all of season two (the glory season) is ruined for me and I will never be able to enjoy another Jess/Rory moment or Dean/Jess fighting momrent, because in the end... Dean won. And I will always know that. She chose Dean. She made Jess leave and chose the cheating scumbag known as Dean. Oh yeah, she's a smart girl. rolls eyes I swear, just saying "Dean won" gives me a horrible taste in my mouth and a feeling of something eating away at the inside of my stomach. It's just... Hey, whoever said good guys finish last... has obviously seen Gilmore Girls. I hate that show.  
  
I want to forget that night's episode. And to my mother, if you're reading this, which you're not, I am never ever watching something because you tell me to _ever_ again.   
  
Oh, and Where Are The Lits? We need each other at a time like this! Now Where Is The Love? is playing in my head. sigh Great.  
  
Now I have to try to write Rory in a nice way.... Be glad I love you guys. Because I hate her and would like nothing more than for very bad things to happen to her. Forget all I said about a mistake. It was premeditated, that makes it worse. I can't forgive her, I can only call her mean (but true) names. And Dean even worse (but also true) names.  
  
----------------------  
  
"You wait right here," Rachel said as she put her arm up to keep Jess out of the barn.  
  
"Oh, now you know how to get on a horse?"  
  
"No, I don't. But I will learn. Besides, Aunt Lorelai said she'd help me."  
  
"Well, don't fall and break your neck or anything," he said.  
  
Rory chuckled. "Nice."  
  
"Ha, I'm cooler than you," Lorelai said to Jess as she took Rachel's hand.  
  
"Don't get too excited; she thinks the neighbor's cat is cooler than me," Jess told Lorelai.  
  
Lorelai stuck her tongue out at him and took Rachel in the barn.  
  
"Are you sure that horse is safe?" Jess asked Rory.  
  
"Yep. Mom's had him for years."  
  
"Then he's old, he's probably losing his mind and he'll buck her off or something."  
  
She smiled. "Wow, Jess, you're turning into a real worrywart."  
  
"I am not."  
  
"Wet blanket," she continued.  
  
"I don't want her to break anything, I don't call that-"  
  
"Party pooper. Killjoy, even."  
  
"Stop."  
  
She smiled. "Don't worry. The horse is perfectly safe. He's even safer than Desdemona," Rory assured him.  
  
"Your mom named a horse after the murdered wife in Othello?"  
  
"Yeah. She's crazy that way."  
  
He looked in to see if he could see Rachel yet.   
  
"Earth to Jess." Rory waved her hand in front of his face.  
  
"She's never been on a horse before," he said.  
  
"She'll be fine."  
  
"I know, I was just trying to see if I could see her."  
  
"God, you are such a dad."  
  
"I'm not God, he's up there," Jess said, pointing to the sky. "I can understand your confusion though."  
  
She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, just evade my comment."  
  
"We should get some food when we're done here. I'm hungry."  
  
"You are unbelievable." Rory shook her head.  
  
"Pizza, Luke's or Al's?" he asked.  
  
"I can't believe you still do that."  
  
"Then again if we go to Luke's Luke will be there, so pizza, Al's or Sandeeps?"  
  
"And now you're bribing me with Sandeeps. Can't someone call you on your mushiness just once?"  
  
"Sandeeps it is," he said.  
  
Just then Lorelai brought Rachel out on Thunderbolt. "Ladies and gentlemen... and Jess, I present to you, Rachel Mariano!" Lorelai called dramatically, pointing to Rachel.  
  
Rory smiled and clapped, nudging Jess to do the same.  
  
"She can do tricks," Lorelai said, pointing to Rachel who waved.   
  
"One hand, ladies and gentlemen. Give her a hand." Lorelai clapped.  
  
"This is fun," Rory whispered to Jess.  
  
"This is something only your mother is insane enough to do," he replied.  
  
"But it's fun."  
  
"She's going to rub off on Rachel and I'm going to have to deal with this," he stated.  
  
"She's like Calamity Jane but without the alcoholism," Lorelai announced.  
  
"Thank God," Jess replied.  
  
"Quiet Jesse James," Lorelai scolded him. "Watch this, now she's going to go on a ride and leave you all here," Lorelai said with a smile.  
  
"Have fun," Jess said.  
  
"We'll be back soon," Lorelai told him, walking Thunderbolt to the path.  
  
"She's so cute on that horse," Rory said once they had gone away.  
  
He nodded. "She's going to be telling me how much she wants one now."  
  
"Get her one."  
  
"Oh, right, I'll just store him in the two inch bathroom of our apartment," he said sarcastically.  
  
"As long as there's hay." Rory nodded. "Come on, let's go for a little walk while we wait."  
  
"Okay." Jess nodded and followed her.  
  
"By the way, I'm holding you to that Sandeeps thing."  
  
"I figured you would." He nodded.  
  
===  
  
Rachel wrinkled her nose up. "What's that?" She pointed at the dish the waiter brought to the table.  
  
"Broccoli and pinenut kofta," Rory said.  
  
Rachel looked at Jess.   
  
"Don't worry, we'll order pizza when we leave," he whispered.  
  
Rachel smiled. "Okay."  
  
"Hey, Sandeeps is good," Rory said with a pout.  
  
"They do have some good desserts," Jess admitted.  
  
"We have to get the churma laddoo, even Rachel will like them," Rory said.  
  
"The what?" Rachel asked.  
  
"Basically dough in powdered sugar," Jess said.  
  
"I like elephant ears in powdered sugar," she offered.  
  
"You like elephant ears in anything," Jess said.  
  
She smiled. "Yeah, I just love elephant ears. They aren't really made out of an elephant's ears," Rachel told Rory.  
  
"Oh..." Rory looked confused.  
  
"Yeah. Jimmy told me they were, but Daddy said they aren't."  
  
Rory glanced at Jess. "Jimmy?"  
  
"You know, my dad," Jess said, picking at the food.  
  
"I know, I just figured she'd call him grandpa," Rory said.  
  
"Nope," he said simply. "I am never coming to Sandeeps ever again by the way," he noted as he made a face at the food and shoved the plate at Rory.  
  
"I love Sandeeps," she said, taking a bite off the plate he offered.  
  
"You're cracked," he stated.  
  
"Do you at least like your neer more?" she asked, pointing to his drink.  
  
"Nope. Want it?"  
  
"I'm not eating everything you ordered."  
  
"I've seen you eat; you can handle it."  
  
"Can I get dessert?" Rachel asked.  
  
"Sure, when the guy comes back over here order it," Jess said.  
  
"Poor food," Rory said as she patted the side of the plate.  
  
===  
  
Jess put the pizza down on the counter of the Gilmore-Danes kitchen.  
  
"That is so much better than Indian food," he said as he took Rachel's crust.  
  
Rachel nodded. "Yeah, but the banana cake was really good."  
  
"I can't believe you didn't like the fish fingers," Rory said.  
  
"They weren't as good as Uncle Luke's fish sticks," Rachel said.  
  
"Luke does make good fish sticks," Jess admitted.  
  
"I'm gonna go get my camera. I want to take pictures of you and Rory," Rachel said.  
  
"Remind me to thank your mom," Jess said to Rory, rolling his eyes.  
  
"Oh, will you make funny faces with me?" Rory asked.  
  
"No."  
  
"Will you at least dress up in hats and boas?"  
  
"No."  
  
"What _will_ you do?" she asked.  
  
"Stand here."  
  
"Hey, we should do more fun stuff while we're all here together," Rory said.  
  
"Like what? This is Stars Hollow, the high point is when Kirk gets chased by Miss Patty because he didn't get to help with the dance routine."  
  
"There's stuff to do in Hartford. Why don't we take her to the Mark Twain House?"  
  
"It's a museum. She already has to suffer through a museum trip this week at school, I can't do that to her twice."  
  
"Maybe she'll have fun."  
  
"Well, she _does_ like Mark Twain books," he mused. "I'll ask her." He shrugged.  
  
Rachel came back and put her camera up to her eye. "Okay, smile."  
  
Rory smiled and Jess stuck "bunny ears" behind Rory's head.  
  
Rachel giggled and snapped her picture. "Okay. Now..." She paused, thinking of a pose. "Make silly faces."  
  
"Yeah, right," Jess said.  
  
"Fine, give each other a hug," Rachel said.  
  
Rory smiled and sqeezed Jess tighter than she needed to.  
  
"Can't... breathe," Jess said.  
  
"You don't need to breathe, just smile," Rory said through her smile.  
  
Rachel snapped her picture. "Wait, I'm gonna take another one for Aunt Lorelai, that's a funny pose."  
  
"Okay, if you're done I want to run an idea by you," Jess said.  
  
"What's that?"  
  
"You know how you like Mark Twain?"  
  
"Uh huh." Rachel nodded.  
  
"Rory thought you might like to go tour his house," Jess told her.  
  
"Yeah, in fact, it's my treat," Rory said. "We can buy stuff from the museum gift shop and see his drawing room and everything. It'll be fun," Rory said with a smile.  
  
Rachel grinned. "That does sound fun."  
  
"Yeah, so you want to go?" Rory asked.  
  
"Yeah!"  
  
Rory looked at Jess. "Ha, I told you she'd want to go."  
  
"You're such a two-year-old sometimes." He shook his head.  
  
"I love museums," Rachel said. "Daddy's going to chaperone my museum visit for school this week."  
  
"Oh, is he?" Rory smiled, looking at Jess.  
  
Jess shot her an annoyed look. "I got roped into it."  
  
"Sure you did," she said, patting his back in a patronizing way.  
  
"I did."  
  
"Are you going to bring cupcakes?"  
  
"No." He glared at her.   
  
"He's going to write our names on our nametags though," Rachel said.  
  
"You should bring cupcakes," Rory said.  
  
"It's not a cupcake event," Jess said.  
  
"No. But my birthday is in a week, I'm supposed to bring snacks in for that."  
  
"Aw, it is?"  
  
"Yep. My party's next Saturday. You should come."  
  
"I don't know where you live," Rory said.  
  
"In New York, we're having face painting and ballooon animals, it's going to be so much fun. Grandma is going to be there, too. She's dressing up in her ....ren....um.. What's it called?" She asked Jess.  
  
"Renaissance dress."  
  
"Yeah. Renaissance. Anyway, it's a pretty dress, and TJ's going to be there."  
  
"Can't win 'em all," Jess said.  
  
"That does sound fun. It's next Saturday?" Rory reviewed.  
  
"Yep." Rachel nodded.  
  
"Am I invited?" Rory asked Jess.  
  
"No, you're not allowed to come. Stay away." He rolled his eyes.  
  
"That's his way of saying he wants you to be there," Rachel said.  
  
Rory smiled. "I'll be there. What do you want for your birthday?"  
  
Rachel opened her mouth but Jess cut her off.  
  
"Other than that," Jess said before she could say anything.  
  
She pouted at him. "Fine. Books and anything for my baby dolls. I like to pretend I'm their mom."  
  
"Oh, I used to do that. When I was in first grade I insisted on taking my baby doll everywhere and then I made my one friend at the sand box be the dad and he wasn't happy about it," Rory said.  
  
"Good thing you never dated him," Jess replied.  
  
"Yeah." Rory nodded in agreement.  
  
"Do you want kids?" Rachel asked.  
  
"Rachel," Jess said.  
  
"What? I was just wondering."  
  
"You don't need to be that bold."  
  
"It's fine," Rory said. "Yes, I do want kids. That's why I had to dump him."  
  
"She wants kids," Rachel told Jess.  
  
"So I heard." He nodded.  
  
"That's good," Rachel said.  
  
"Wonderful," he said dryly.  
  
"Aren't you glad she wants kids?"  
  
"Absolutely. Maybe she'll have ten little Rorys running around and the world will forever be a better place. Are you done?"  
  
She folded her arms. "I guess."  
  
"Okay, let me change shoes and then we can go," Rory said.  
  
"Okay." Jess nodded.  
  
"I'll be right back."  
  
As soon as she was out of sight Jess elbowed Rachel. "What was that?"  
  
"What?" he asked innocently.  
  
"Don't give me that 'I have no idea what you're talking about' tone."  
  
"I don't know what you're talking about."  
  
"Why are you so obsessed with whether or not Rory has kids?"  
  
She shrugged. "I don't know."  
  
He gave her 'the look'.  
  
She sighed. "I just wanted to know if she liked kids or not."  
  
"Why?"  
  
Before Rachel had a chance to answer Rory came out. "Okay, I'm ready to rumble."  
  
Rachel smiled and took Rory's hand, leading her out the door.  
  
Rory looked at Jess with surprise all over her face at Rachel's action.  
  
Jess just shook his head and followed them out. "Oh, boy."  
  
===  
  
"...With a moo moo here and a moo moo there, here a moo, there a moo, everywhere a moo moo. Old M-"  
  
"Guys, please, give the song a rest," Jess said, trying to get Rachel and Rory to shut up for more than one second.  
  
"We haven't been singing for long," Rachel said.  
  
"You've tired out every animal in the animal kingdom. When you start asking me what sound an anteater makes you know you're desperate," he stated.  
  
"Party pooper," Rory said.  
  
"You warped into a child when we left the museum," he told her.  
  
"We're just having fun."  
  
"I'm about to take that Mark Twain quote coffee mug thing back; you don't need anymore coffee. It's obviously in your blood already."  
  
You can't take it back. I already sang you the thank you song for buying it for me," Rory said.  
  
"I feel like I'm on the Disney channel or something," he mumbled.  
  
"Oh!" Rory looked back at Rachel. "We didn't sing Wheels on the Bus."  
  
"Please don't," Jess said.  
  
"He must be getting old," Rory told Rachel with a nod.  
  
Rachel giggled. "Daddy's old."  
  
"Daddy's still young," Jess said, "but he's about to kick you two out of the car."  
  
"He never sings songs with me," Rachel said.  
  
Rory shook her head in mock disappointment. "And here I thought you were cool."  
  
"I'm more concerned with staying sane, thank you," he replied.  
  
"Oh! I have an idea," Rachel said.  
  
"What's that?" Rory asked.  
  
"We could have a Rugrats marathon when we get home. I brought two of my tapes and we can eat popcorn, it'll be really fun. Can we?" Rachel asked.  
  
"I like the Rugrats." Rory nodded.  
  
"Me too. And I like All Grown Up. I like Kimmy."  
  
"I don't think I've seen that," Rory said.  
  
"My friend made me a tape with my favorite episode on it. We can watch that last."  
  
"Okay. Jess, what do you think?"  
  
"Is it that one with the kid with green hair?" Jess asked.  
  
"Yep."  
  
"But you've made me watch that episode about nine times," he said.  
  
"But never with Rory. We have to watch it with Rory."  
  
"Yeah, you don't want me to feel left out, do you?" Rory joined in with a smile.  
  
He sighed. "Fine. What's one more time?"  
  
"That's the attitude," Rory said, patting Jess on the back.  
  
"I have got to make more friends," Jess said, shaking his head.  
  
Rory and Rachel ignored him and went back to their own little conversation.  
  
------------------------------------  
  
**A/N:** Okay. I need your opinion. The plot-y part of the next chapter doesn't start until they're back in New York. Am I allowed to skip over the leaving of Stars Hollow, or do you want me to add that on? I need need need you to tell me, that way I know where to begin. Please review, I'll love you forever! Plus I need to know if i'm still doing all right. hugs  
  
_-Kate_


	4. Luke Jr

Disclaimer: I own Rachel. I am totally claiming her. ASP has nothing to do with her. [Hugs Rachel protectively] Stay away! You'll never destroy her character! Never! Never!   
  
(I finally found a way to put emphasis on my ["actions"] Hehe!)  
  
A/N: Aww! [hugs you all] My reviewers totally rock! I swear, my teeth are sunburned I've been smiling so much! You just make me blush and feel happy!   
  
I have decided to skip leaving Stars Hollow, because, yeah, it's not a big thing. I just wanted to make sure everyone was okay with it before I skipped it. This chapter is more Rory/Jess/Rachel oriented... I know, as opposed to what? But they are the main characters, who else would it be revolved around, Kirk?  
  
Oh, and thanks to Poodernite for the cake [hands you a thank you card] It was yummy!  
  
Okay, I've been to New York before, but never the city, so if at any point the odd thing happens that I actually express an opinion of something in the city it's probably just from a picture iIve seen. Anyone who's actually from there... lucky. But yeah, I've never been there. Someday I will get there though! And this could be useless information, too, because I may not even have an opinion written. Hee.  
  
Oh, and although I don't usually do the individual thanking thing, I have to thank cellardoor, because your review just made me smile so much. ALL of my reviews made me smile, hence the hugging you all. But I just loved yours! [hugs you again] And of course Erika, because she's my muse. Without her my stories would probably cease to exist. Which I'm told would be a bad thing. And hopefully would be a bad thing! :)  
  
-----------------------------  
  
"Dad! Where's my flowery skirt?" Rachel called from her room.  
  
"How would I know?"  
  
"You put it away," she said, appearing in the hall with her hands on her hips.  
  
"Then it's probably in one of your drawers."  
  
"It's not; I looked."  
  
"Wear something else," he said.  
  
"I've been planning to wear that for weeks."  
  
"You have a million outfits, just pick one."  
  
"None of them are the flowery skirt," she said stubbornly.  
  
"Then wear one of the other thousand skirts you have."  
  
"Like which one?"  
  
"I don't know," he said, pausing for a moment. "Which one do you want to wear?"  
  
"The flowery one."  
  
"I'm tuning you out now," he stated as he went back to writing the names on the name tags.  
  
"You are not helping," she told him.  
  
"Did you hear something, marker?"   
  
She sighed heavily and went to her room. "How about the pink and black striped one?" she asked, stepping into the hallway and holding it up to her waist.  
  
"Sounds fine," he replied, without looking up.  
  
"I wish you were a girl," she said before huffing back into her room.  
  
"Now that would be interesting," he said as he wrote the last name tag and put the cap on the marker.  
  
===  
  
As soon as they arrived at the school Rachel hopped out of the car and went in to see friends.  
  
Jess pulled out the envelope with the name tags and sullenly walked over to the teacher.  
  
"Mr. Mariano, glad you're here."  
  
"Oh yeah, me too," he said, although she missed the sarcasm in his voice.  
  
"Good. Do you want to hand out the name tags?" She smiled.  
  
"They probably like you more than me."  
  
"Oh, don't be silly. Kids, come get your name tags from Rachel's dad," Miss Simpson called to the kids who were off in their groups talking. She glanced back at Jess. "Sometimes they don't listen the first time."  
  
"Huh. Tell them it's ice cream, that'll get their attention."  
  
Miss Simpson laughed. "I'm sure it would. Oh, that reminds me, do you have a wife?"  
  
His eyebrows shot up. "Excuse me?"  
  
"Well, the other chaperone won't be able to make it; her son is sick. I planned it with two chaperones and honestly it's going to be a lot to handle with only one. I tried contacting the other parents to see if they could make it but unfortunately they were all either at work or just leaving."  
  
"Can't imagine why."  
  
"It would be a lot easier. I planned to assign so many children to one chaperone, but..."  
  
"There's no other chaperone." He nodded. "That means I'm going to have to deal with all of them?"  
  
"Well, I'll help, but unless someone else offers it's just us," she said with a smile.  
  
"Could you get YOUR husband to help?"  
  
She laughed. "No, I'm single."  
  
"I'll be right back, I just remembered I have a call to... Just tell Rachel I'll be right back," he said, exiting the classroom. He walked outside the building and pulled out his cell phone and dialed.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Rory?"  
  
"Jess?"  
  
"Hi. You're on your way to work, right?"  
  
"Actually, I'm standing right in front of my boss, is this important?"  
  
"That depends, is my sanity important to you?" he asked.  
  
"Yeah, hold on just a second."  
  
"Apparently not that important," he said to himself.  
  
"Okay, I'm back. Now what do you need?"  
  
"You."  
  
"Very funny, what do you really need?"  
  
"No, I really need you. What are you doing?"  
  
"Working."  
  
"Other than that?"  
  
"More working," she said.  
  
"Okay, I know this is a huge favor but is there any way that you could get off work today?"  
  
"Probably, why?"  
  
He sighed. "Remember the field trip?"  
  
She smiled. "Yes."  
  
"The other chaperone isn't showing and everyone else claims to be either working or dying, whichever one gets them out of the chaperone gig."  
  
"What does this have to do with me?"  
  
"Rachel's teacher is very single and I'm afraid of her."  
  
Rory chuckled. "What do you want me to do, find her a single guy?"  
  
"No, I want you to help me chaperone."  
  
"Excuse me?"  
  
"The Brooklyn Children's Museum, it's for children; you'll love it."  
  
"I'm sorry, when did trying to get someone to do you a favor start including mocking them?"  
  
"Right, sorry. Anyway, could you get out of work?"  
  
"Well, yeah, I can do it later at home. I don't know... the children sound scary."  
  
"There's coffee in it for you," he said.  
  
"Done. I'll see you in a couple minutes."  
  
"Rory?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"You don't know where the school is."  
  
"Oh. Right. Give me a minute to get a pen and I'll get directions," she said.  
  
===  
  
Jess and Miss Simpson were handing out the name tags to the kids and Jess got to Rachel's group, handing one to her and one to Kenny and mentally noting not to pick Kenny for his group of kids.  
  
"Rachel, how come your dad's being the chaperone?" her friend Cassie asked.  
  
"Because we needed a chaperone," Rachel said, resisting the urge to add "Duh!" on the end of her sentence.  
  
"I know, but usually the moms do it, not the dads. Why doesn't your mom be the chaperone?"  
  
"Well... Miss Simpson asked Dad," Rachel said.  
  
"But I've never even got to meet your mom," Kenny said.  
  
"She's a mom, everyone has a mom, they're all the same, why do you need to meet mine?" Rachel replied before going to her desk and pulling out a pencil to start on her crossword puzzle.  
  
Kenny just stood there looking confused.  
  
"Boy, someone's in a bad mood," Cassie said before walking away.  
  
Rachel looked up and glared at Cassie's back.  
  
"Does everyone have a name tag?" Miss Simpson asked. "If you don't have a name tag raise your hand." She looked around the room. "Everyone has a name tag then?" They continued to ignore her so she sighed and tried to find the name tags on the kids.  
  
"Hey, if you don't have a name tag we're leaving you here," Jess called out. "Who doesn't have one?"  
  
A few kids raised their hands.  
  
"How hard was that?" he mumbled. "Come up here and get one."  
  
Kenny wandered over to Rachel. "Are you mad at Cassie?"  
  
"I don't like Cassie," Rachel said.  
  
"You liked her yesterday."  
  
"Well, I don't like her anymore."  
  
"Do you not have a mom?"  
  
"What?" Her head shot up.  
  
"Well, you usually don't draw a picture of your mom at Mother's Day and your mom never comes to school events. Your dad always brings you. I thought maybe you didn't have one."  
  
"I do have a mom," she said, standing up and going over to look at the Mother's Day pictures hanging in the classroom. "...Somewhere," she finished to herself.  
  
Within about two seconds she decided to make a stop at the markers and make some... artistic corrections to the Mother's Day pictures the other kids drew of them and their moms. She took the cap off the red marker and started to lower it to the paper when someone behind her cleared her voice. She turned around like a deer in the headlights and dropped the marker.  
  
"Hi, Rachel," Rory greeted, glancing at the marker.  
  
"Rory."  
  
"What are you doing?"  
  
"Um.... nothing," Rachel said.   
  
"Well, what was the marker doing?"  
  
"Being very bad," she said sheepishly.  
  
Rory nodded in agreement.  
  
"Please don't tell my dad, he'll take my books away for the rest of the night and make me watch Animal House."  
  
"I won't tell this time, but please don't do it again."  
  
"I won't," Rachel promised. "What are you doing here?"  
  
"Oh, your dad called, he said the other chaperone couldn't make it and he asked if I could come," she explained. "I hope you don't mind," she added as an afterthought.  
  
Rachel smiled. "No, not at all."  
  
Rory smiled. "Good." She glanced over her shoulder and chuckled. "I better go help Jess before someone gets hurt."  
  
Rachel giggled. "Yeah. He's not good with kids. Well, except me, but I'm different."  
  
"Oh, I like your outfit," Rory added. "It's very pretty. I'm sure Kenny liked it," she said with a small smile.  
  
Rachel blushed. "Dad told you?"  
  
"He didn't have to; the kid was drooling so much I nearly tripped and fell on the way over here."  
  
Rachel blushed but couldn't suppress a smile.  
  
Rory smiled. "Okay, Jess is about to break, I have to go. I'll see you in a few minutes."  
  
"Okay." Rachel nodded.  
  
Cassie followed Kenny over to Rachel. "Was that your mom?" she asked.  
  
At first Rachel looked surprised, but then she smiled. "Yes, that's my mom," she decided.  
  
"Cool! I want to meet her," Kenny said.  
  
"Oh, but you can't let her know that you know she's my mom," Rachel added quickly.  
  
"Why?" Cassie asked, looking confused.  
  
"Well...because, we're playing this game."  
  
"What game?"  
  
"Um, we were reading... Oliver Twist together, and so you know how Oliver's an orphan?" she asked, although they both just looked confused. "Well, he is, and me and my mom decided to play a game where I pretend like she's not my mom and I just call her by her name... because Oliver didn't have a mom, so I'm seeing what it would be like to be an orphan. It's really a fun game. I just call her Rory for the day."  
  
"Cool! I never get to call my mom by her first name," Kenny said.  
  
"Do you call your dad by his real name?" Cassie asked.  
  
"No, only me and my mom are playing. It's a mother-daughter thing," Rachel said, nodding matter-of-factly.  
  
===  
  
A few minutes later Justin, one of the kids in the class, went over to Rory.   
  
"Excuse me, Mrs. Rachel's Mom, could I have another name tag? I lost mine and I don't want to ask him, he's not very nice," he said, pointing to Jess.  
  
"What?"  
  
"A name tag. Willie ripped mine."  
  
"No, I know, but you called me Mrs. Rachel's Mom."  
  
"Oh, sorry. Mrs. Mariano."  
  
"Um, I'm not Mrs. Mariano, I'm just Miss Gilmore," Rory said.  
  
"You don't have the same last name as your daughter?"  
  
"I don't... I'm not Rachel's mom."  
  
"Oh...Oh! That's right, I forgot you were playing the Oliver Twist game."  
  
"The...what?" Rory frowned.  
  
"I didn't know that applied to all of us." He smiled. "Sorry. Can I have another name tag?"  
  
Rory frowned in confusion and got a name tag. "Name?"  
  
"Justin."  
  
She wrote quickly on the name tag. "Okay, there you go Justin."  
  
"Thanks." He went back to his friends.  
  
Rory frowned in thought and headed over to Jess. "What's the Oliver Twist game?"  
  
"I...have no idea."  
  
"Rachel doesn't know an Oliver Twist game?"  
  
"If she does she didn't tell me about it," he said. "Why?"  
  
"Oh, just wondering...honey," she said before walking off with a smile.  
  
He frowned. "What did you- Rory?" He chased after her.  
  
===  
  
"I can't believe you refuse to tell me why you called me honey until I get you coffee," Jess complained as he watched the kids pile into the bus.  
  
She smiled. "Why not? I'm a Gilmore, we'll hold anything ransom for coffee."  
  
"It's pathetic."  
  
"You're just pouting because I know something you don't know," Rory stated.  
  
"She's MY daughter," he mumbled.  
  
"According to Miss Simpson's class she's mine, too," Rory replied with a smirk before boarding the bus herself.  
  
He frowned again. "What? Rory? You have to quit doing this," he complained as he went up the stairs.  
  
"Coffee first, explanation later."  
  
"Fine. You know what, if you want to slowly kill yourself with coffee I'll facilitate your habit."  
  
"Wow, if you only knew how much like Luke you sound right now."  
  
He glared at her in response. "I am nothing like Luke."  
  
"You can take the guy out of Stars Hollow, but you can't take Stars Hollow out of the guy." She grinned.  
  
He sighed a very annoyed sigh. "You're about two words from getting kicked off the bus."  
  
"Do you have a baseball cap? Because you know, I do remember a time when you dressed up like Luke and I must say the resemblance was imposing."  
  
"Rory," he warned.  
  
"Ooh, stern face." She smiled. "Did I touch a nerve, Luke Jr.?"  
  
"I'm about to go sit with Rachel."  
  
"Seriously, do you have flannel? I should call Luke. He'd be so proud."  
  
"Oh yeah, who wouldn't want me to be the result of their influence?" he asked sarcastically. "I mean, I'm just so darn wonderful."  
  
"And so easy to get along with," she added.  
  
"That's me in a nutshell."  
  
"Yep. Even the ditzy drummer on Josie and the Pussycats isn't as optimistic as you are."  
  
He rolled his eyes and pulled out a book. "This is me ignoring you," he informed her, gesturing to the book and then to himself reading the book.  
  
She just smiled and then turned around to check on the kids. "Hey, don't throw your crossword puzzles at each other!"  
  
===  
  
"I loved the big red N in the sleep part," Kenny said. "I'm glad your mom took a picture of us by it."  
  
Rachel nodded. "It was cool."  
  
He nodded and opened his lunch pail. "Want my Fruit Roll-Up?"  
  
"My dad packed me..." She grimaced. "Peanut butter crackers? I'm gonna have to talk to him."  
  
"How come your mom doesn't pack your lunch?"  
  
"Oh. Well, my dad likes to pack it extra special."  
  
"My mom does that," Kenny said.  
  
Rachel shrugged. "Want my crackers?"  
  
"I'll trade you," he said, handing her the Fruit Roll-Up.  
  
"Thanks." She took it. "Did you like the dinosaur part?"  
  
"Yeah, I love dinosaurs." He glanced behind him. "Is your mom and dad going to eat with us?"  
  
"I don't know, why?"  
  
"Because they're coming over here," he said.  
  
She looked behind her and slouched down in her seat as if to hide from them. "Don't forget we're playing the Oliver Twist game," she whispered to Kenny.  
  
"Only with your mom, though, right?" he asked.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Hey," Jess said. "Are we allowed to sit here?"  
  
"Sure." Rachel nodded, taking a bite of her sandwich.  
  
"You're making her eat a sandwich on a field trip?" Rory asked, frowning.  
  
"That's what she packs everyday," Jess said.  
  
"But today's field trip day, the most special of all days."  
  
"What's so special about it?" he asked cluelessly.  
  
She rolled her eyes. "Do you like Patsy Grimaldi's?" Rory asked Rachel.  
  
"What's that?" Rachel asked.  
  
"A pizza place. It's really good. I'll take you there when we leave," she told Rachel.  
  
"You don't have to go to work?"  
  
"Nope, I have the day off thanks to your dad who is now causing me to work all night," she replied with a smile.  
  
"Will I like Patsy Grimaldi's?"  
  
"Probably, I do."  
  
"You also liked Sandeeps," she pointed out.  
  
Rory chuckled. "Good point. Okay, better idea, how about I take you to Funtime USA and you can get pizza and soda and I can buy some tokens and we'll play games and make your dad try to win something?"  
  
"Good thing I don't have any plans," Jess remarked playfully.  
  
"You just know I'll beat you at Skee Ball," Rory replied haughtily.  
  
His jaw dropped. "In your dreams."  
  
"Prove it," she said.  
  
"I will."  
  
"You and me, Skee Ball machine, when we get there."  
  
"You're on. But when I beat you I don't want to hear you whine about the machine not liking you."  
  
"That was only once and the machine really didn't like me; it spit balls at me," she said.  
  
"It did not."  
  
"And it ate my tokens."  
  
"You DROPPED your tokens," he corrected.  
  
"And I'm going to win," she concluded, smiling at Rachel.  
  
Jess rolled his eyes. "You wish."  
  
Rachel just smiled and finished her Fruit Roll-Up.  
  
"At least he gave you some good junk food," Rory said.  
  
"No, Dad gave me crackers, Kenny gave me this."  
  
"Jess, do I have to teach you everything?" she asked him.  
  
"Now crackers are bad?"  
  
Rory went through Rachel's lunch bag and chuckled. "Jess, there's not one good thing in here. You have to pack cookies or Gushers or something that's not good for you." She pulled out an apple. "What's this?"  
  
"A round fruit known as an apple," he replied.  
  
"I'm going to have to teach you how to pack a lunch the Gilmore way."  
  
"I don't want my kid having a heart attack by the time she's 40, so I think I'll stick to apples, thank you very much."  
  
She giggled. "You're even into healthy eating. You are so Luke."  
  
He sighed in frustration and grabbed some change from his pocket. "I'll be right back, there's a vending machine somewhere over there."  
  
Rory chuckled and took a sip of her coffee.  
  
===  
  
"You cheated," Jess stated after the millionth time Rory teased him.  
  
"How did I cheat? You can't cheat at Skee Ball," Rory insisted with a smile.  
  
"For one thing, you teamed up with Rachel. You two together are hell on wheels."  
  
Rachel smiled and whacked him with her inflatable bat. "You said a bad word."  
  
He rolled his eyes. "You gave Rory your tickets."  
  
"I can't help it if I'm beautiful," Rachel said innocently.  
  
Rory laughed. "Gotta love a girl who knows what she's got."  
  
"Creepy little boy," Jess muttered.  
  
"He wasn't creepy, he was nice; he gave me his tickets," Rachel said.  
  
"That's why he's creepy, I never got that desperate until I was at least 11," Jess said.  
  
Rory chuckled.  
  
"I think it was nice," Rachel insisted stubbornly.  
  
"Still, you could've given them to me, remember me? The man who's been feeding you and clothing you for the entire seven years of your life. And you give the tickets to her," he said, pointing at Rory.  
  
Rory smiled and wrapped her arm around Rachel's shoulder. "We beautiful women have to stick together."  
  
Rachel giggled. "It's true, Dad."  
  
Jess just rolled his eyes. "What did I do to deserve this?"  
  
"We ask ourselves that, too. I mean, we could be gracing anyone with our presence, why you?" Rory mused.  
  
"May I borrow that?" Jess asked Rachel.  
  
She handed him her bat. "Why?"  
  
"So I can do this," Jess said, gently hitting Rory on the head with the bat.  
  
Rory gasped. "You little punk," she said.  
  
"I had to," he said, casually draping an arm around her shoulder.  
  
"I'm going to get you back for that," she warned him.  
  
"I'm terrified," he said dryly.  
  
She grinned. "No, but you will be." She leaned down to Rachel's height. "Do you have any finger nail polish?"  
  
"Nope."  
  
"I do, we'll practice on him sometime."  
  
Rachel smiled. "Okay."  
  
"I can feel you two plotting against me," Jess informed them.  
  
Rory popped back up and said innocently, "We don't know what you're talking about. We were just talking about how I beat you at Skee Ball."  
  
"You cheated," he repeated.  
  
"Uh huh, make excuses," she said, shaking her head in mock disapproval.  
  
Jess just rolled his eyes and opened the car door. "Cheaters first."  
  
Rory smiled and got in. "Thank you."  
  
He opened Rachel's door. "You too, mini cheater."  
  
She smiled and hopped in. "Thank you."   
  
Jess shook his head and walked around to his side. "How am I going to deal with two of you?" he asked when he got in.  
  
"I don't know, you'll learn in time," Rory said with a nod.  
  
Rachel smiled and leaned back in her seat. She liked that idea.  
  
--------------------------  
  
A/N: Sorry, I know that wasn't the most radical, sitting-on-the-edge-of-your-seat ending, but I wanted to update without taking a million years and I have this problem, once I start writing I can't stop until I'm at at least 2,000 words. It's ridiclous. 


	5. Books and Bras

Disclaimer: I don't own the show and unfortunately I don't own Jess or Rory so I can't make them act the way I want them to on the show. I did create Rachel and all the little brats at Rachel's school, though. I'm a very busy woman, aren't I?  
  
**A/N:** Aw! I love you guys! I'd trade my left hand for any one of you. I'm glad everyone seems to like this story, because I certainly like writing it! Rachel's cute, she's fun to write, because for one thing, she does have some Jess in her, being raised by him and everything, and another reason she's cool is she can't be out of character! I could make her decide to be Coco the Chanting Cowgirl and it still wouldn't be out of character. Well, if I waited too many chapters it would, because you'll get to know her, but since I created her it's just so darn easy to know how to write her. Right, the ramble is over now.  
  
So, I wish I could go to New York, but since I can't I'm going to Internet surf for any information I may need because I'm a fact freak and I can't write anything without stupid facts to back it up. I'm so annoying sometimes. But since it's set in the future the fact-finding thing has pretty much no rules. It's cool.

* * *

Wednesday Jess was picking Rachel up after work.  
  
"Bye," she called, waving to her friend and giving Jess her backpack.  
  
"Have fun?" Jess asked.  
  
"Uh huh, the crazy man from upstairs sat in the hallway and started doing something weird with yarn," Rachel told him. "It was funny."  
  
"Huh. Sounds ...odd, but okay."  
  
"Yeah, well, he's crazy," Rachel explained.  
  
"He probably isn't crazy."  
  
"Dad, he sat in the hallway and wound yarn around his hand."  
  
"Okay, that is weird," Jess relented, nodding.  
  
"I can't wait to go home, I'm hungry."  
  
"We'll have to grab something while we're out, we have to go grocery shopping."  
  
Rachel groaned. "Dad, I hate grocery shopping."  
  
"Well, it's not my favorite passtime, either, but we have to do it."  
  
"Why do I have to go?" Rachel whined.  
  
"Because you're too young to stay home alone," he told her.  
  
"I am not," she said.  
  
"Yes, you are. Do you want me to go to jail?"  
  
"No, you wouldn't last a day," she said.  
  
He had to smirk at that. "Why not? I'm not tough enough?"  
  
"No; you're a dad," she stated as if that explained it all.  
  
"Well, they'd throw me in jail if they caught you home alone, and then who'll cut the crusts off your peanut butter and jelly sandwiches?"  
  
"Rory," Rachel said simply.  
  
He rolled his eyes. "Trading me in for a female model, huh?"  
  
"Rory's a model?"  
  
"No, I meant... never mind. I sometimes forget you're not 16," he said.  
  
"I can't wait to be 16, then I can stay home alone and make you go to the grocery store without me."  
  
"Then who'll keep me company?" he asked as he ruffled her hair.  
  
She growled at him. "Nobody, you'll have to go alone."  
  
"Well, you're not 16 yet, so you have to."  
  
"Can't someone babysit me?"  
  
"Oh yeah, I'm gonna pay someone to watch you so I can go grocery shopping," he said sarcastically.  
  
"Ask Rory," Rachel suggested.  
  
"No."  
  
"Why not?" Rachel asked with a pout.  
  
"Because Rory's not a babysitter," he said.  
  
"Rory likes me," Rachel said.  
  
"Yeah, Rory likes you, but she's not the babysitting type. In all the time I've ever known her I've never known her to babysit."  
  
"Give me her number, I'll call and ask."  
  
"No."  
  
"Please?" she begged.  
  
"No. You'll just have to rough grocery shopping."  
  
"I don't want to be your friend right now," she told him.  
  
"That's okay, I never wanted my parents to be my friends either."  
  
"Is Rory in your cell phone?"  
  
"Yeah, I keep her there in case I ever need to take her out and make her pick a lock for me."  
  
"No, I mean the phone book thing," Rachel said.  
  
"Yeah. Why?"  
  
"Well, all you have to do is push the button..."  
  
"No, I'm not calling Rory, end of discussion."  
  
She gave him an exaggerated pout and sulked for a few seconds before finally sneaking her hand over and starting to pull the phone off his belt.  
  
"Touch it and we're going to the organic food store," he said.  
  
She sighed. "How did you know?"  
  
"I'm a dad, I know all."  
  
"Just call Rory," she said.  
  
"Would you stop? I'm not calling Rory."  
  
"I'm not talking to you," Rachel informed him.  
  
"You just did," he said.  
  
"Well I'm not doing it anymore."  
  
"Did it again."  
  
She glared at him and crossed her arms.  
  
They walked in silence for a couple minutes. "Even if I did call Rory, I can't just ask her to babysit," he finally said.  
  
"Yes, you can. Rory likes me, she'd want to," Rachel insisted.  
  
"Rory has her own life, she's not just going to drop everything so you don't have to grocery shopping."  
  
"She's probably bored and she wishes she had someone to talk to, and she doesn't because you won't call her and ask her if I can come over."  
  
"Oh, wow, you can read Rory's mind now? Thanks Miss Cleo."  
  
"She doesn't have any kids, she's probably lonely."  
  
"Let me guess, if she babysat you she wouldn't be lonely anymore?"  
  
"Well, she probably wouldn't," Rachel said.  
  
"You're going to extreme measures to try to get out of going to the grocery store."  
  
"I want to go see Rory," she said.  
  
"Well, you can't. You'll see her on your birthday," Jess said firmly.  
  
Rachel sighed and stayed quiet for a few minutes. Then she finally said, "Dad, what's a bra for?"  
  
His eyes widened slightly and he pulled out his phone, dialing some numbers. "Rory? Rachel wants to talk to you."  
  
===  
  
"Aren't you a little young to be wondering about that?" Rory asked as Rachel finished explaining the situation over looking through books.  
  
"Well, if I tell you something will you promise not to tell Dad?"  
  
"Um...well... should he know?"  
  
"No, not really." Rachel shook her head. "It's a girl thing."   
  
"Okay, then... I guess."  
  
"I didn't really wonder that, but my friend said that her sister always asked her dad a question like that or about sex and he would immediately send her to see her mom, so I figured he'd let me come see you if I did."  
  
Rory tried to hold back a smile. "You really shouldn't send false alarms like that, I think he almost had a heart attack."  
  
"But I'm here with you, so you see, it worked."  
  
Rory couldn't argue that. "You're too smart for your own good. Or Jess'," she corrected.  
  
"It's his fault, he's the one that started reading to me so young," Rachel stated.  
  
"And he passed the genes," Rory said with a nod. "I guess we couldn't expect Jess' daughter to be completely without Jess qualities."  
  
"Hey, can I get this one?"  
  
"What's that?" Rory asked, peeking over the shelf.  
  
"School Spirit..."  
  
"Sabotage," Rory finished, looking at the book.  
  
"Yeah, School Spirit Sabotage." Rachel nodded.  
  
"That depends, will it give you any ideas?" Rory asked, only half jokingly.  
  
"Huh?" Rachel asked, looking slightly confused.  
  
"Never mind. Yeah, you can get it."  
  
"Can I get this one?" She held up another one.  
  
Rory took the book and loked at it. "Evangeline Brown and the Cadillac Motel. What's it about?" Rory aked, turning it over.  
  
"I don't know, but it looks good."  
  
Rory shrugged. "Well, I can't argue with a book purchase."  
  
When they finished Rachel had selected one last book- Anne of Green Gables- and Rory had two.  
  
"So, should we get something to eat now?" Rory asked Rachel.  
  
"I am hungry," Rachel said.  
  
"Okay. What are you in the mood for? Hot dogs? Pizza? Burgers?"  
  
"We should make Dad cook for us, he's the best."  
  
Rory smiled. "Is he?"  
  
"Yeah, he's a very good cook," Rachel promised, nodding.  
  
"Well, Luke is, so I suppose it makes sense he would be," Rory said with a small smirk.  
  
===  
  
Rory walked Rachel in the apartment, carrying her bag of books.  
  
"Dad, we're home," Rachel called.  
  
"Lucy," Rory called out.  
  
"Coming, Ricky," Jess responded dryly as he walked in the room.  
  
"Hi, I brought books." Rory grinned.  
  
"Any for me?" he asked.  
  
She nodded and handed him one. "I got you a copy so you wouldn't ask to borrow mine."  
  
"And I let you borrow my daughter all evening," he said, shaking his head.  
  
"I know, I'm so ungrateful. Rachel said you'd cook for us, is it true?"  
  
"Ah, she's offering my services, is she?" He looked at Rachel with an eyebrow raised.  
  
"Dirty," Rory said.  
  
"Too much like your mother," he said pointing at her.  
  
"And you're Luke, so we're a perfect--" She cut herself off. "I'm starved. Looking through books works up an appetite and she can look through books even longer than I can," Rory said. "I swear, I'd say it's unhealthy but I was probably the same way as a kid and so were you. Besides, it's better she's reading than... I should go," she said, deciding to stop her ramble.  
  
"No, you have to stay, Dad made pasta salad and I told you he's a really good cook." She looked at Jess. "You did make the pasta salad, right?"  
  
"Yes, I made your pasta salad."  
  
"See, he made it, so you have to stay so you can try it," Rachel insisted. "You'll love it."  
  
"I..."  
  
"Please?" Rachel asked giving her puppy dog eyes.  
  
Rory sighed. "Okay, I'll stay."  
  
"Yay!" Rachel clapped.  
  
"I've never known a Gilmore to turn down food," Jess said.  
  
"When we're done eating you can watch A Little Princess with us," Rachel told Rory. "How come we've never had you over before we went to Stars Hollow?"  
  
"Well... I didn't know you lived in New York," Rory said.  
  
"Well, we should've told you sooner, you're more fun than Dad. He's kind of boring sometimes."  
  
"Jess? Boring?" Rory smiled teasingly at Jess.  
  
"Oh yeah, to her I'm boring." Jess nodded.  
  
"He never even dates."  
  
"Okay, squirt, you talk too much," Jess said, escorting her into the other room.  
  
Rory smiled. "Why not?"  
  
"My standards are nearly impossible to meet," he stated. "I have food in the kitchen, Rory want a cracker?"  
  
"No, but Rory wants coffee," she said.  
  
"I'm glad you have a small attention span," he said, walking in the kitchen.  
  
"I resent that," Rory said. "I do not have a small attention span, my attention span is--"  
  
He sat a cup of coffee in front of her. "Here."  
  
She grinned. "Thank you."  
  
Rachel smiled. "You _do _remind me of Aunt Lorelai," she said.  
  
"Well, she is getting older, she'll probably be exactly like her in a couple years," Jess said.  
  
Rachel smiled. "Yeah, and you'll be like Uncle Luke."  
  
Jess glared at her and Rory laughed behind her coffee cup. Then Jess glared at her and she covered by saying, "Oh, the coffee told me a great joke, wanna hear it? It's about flannel."  
  
Rachel giggled and sat down with the bowl of pasta salad Jess had given her.  
  
"You're both awful," Jess told them.  
  
"Thank you," Rory said with a nod.  
  
Jess rolled his eyes and went to get Rory some food.

* * *

**A/N:** Sorry, this was meant to be longer, it turned out sort of filler-ish. Actually it is a filler; this was supposed to be the birthday party. But I felt bad for taking so long. But the next chapter will be the birthday party. Just let me know what you think, please! [grins] It'll make me happy! [chants] Review, review, review, review [clap]! Yeah, I don't know why I clapped either. 


	6. It's My Party and I'll Cry If I Want To

Disclaimer: Ok, this time I own the little brats at Rachel's birthday party. The parents too, should I decide to invite any. I don't know though, it may be a parentless party and the kids shall take over and turn the world into a big McDonald's. I don't own McDonald's either, should that happen.  
  
**A/N:** Wow, I'm not being a good updater. I'm sorry. Please forgive me. I've just fallen into the funk that I know a few others have fallen into with lack of inspiration. I finally got re-inspired because I had not one, but two Milo dreams in one week. The Milo that lives in my imagination really needs to be acknowledged. And so to save my sanity (says the girl who thinks she has a Milo in her head) I've started writing again. Plus I love the reviewers, and I know how I feel when a stroy I adore has a lack of updates. Not very darn good. Plus Chris kissed Meg, so I feel warm and fuzzy. But I can't seem to find any American Dreams screencaps. Drats. Or any Meg/Chris fanfic, sort of makes me want to write some just so it's out there in the universe. Anyway, I'm just rattling now. I'll start writing. Thank you all for all the great reviews, you guys are the absolute best and you all deserve a Milo of your very own. (hands out stuffed animal thingies that look like Milo)

* * *

"Dad!" Rachel screamed down the hall.  
  
Jess jerked his head up, startled, and bumped his head on the cupboard. "Oh, jeeze," he mumbled, rubbing his head and running down the hall. "What's wrong?"  
  
She turned around and looked at him with the most horrible look on her face. "My dress is ripped. My birthday is ruined. My life is over."  
  
Jess rolled his eyes. "Jeeze, Rachel, is that the only reason you called me down here? I thought someone had climbed in the window and stolen all your books or something. Just pick another one," he said as he walked out of the room.  
  
"Dad, this is my favorite dress ever, I can't just pick another one. It's my birthday, it should be perfect."  
  
"Where did you get an idea like that?"  
  
"Rory told me so," Rachel stated with a hand on her hip.  
  
He rolled his eyes. "Well, if Rory said so then it must be true."  
  
Rachel nodded in agreement, totally missing his sarcasm. "Ok, call Rory, ask her what I should wear."  
  
"Oh, come on. You'll see Rory at the party."  
  
"But you're not helping me with what to wear, Rory will know what to tell me to wear."  
  
"Rory doesn't know everything, you know."  
  
"Yes she does," Rachel said.  
  
He sighed and went back in her room, glancing through the closet listlessly. "Wear this," he said, handing her a dress.  
  
She stared at it. "Dad, I'm not two."  
  
"Just pick something," he said, leaving the room.  
  
"Dad," she whined.  
  
"Now, or you can go in your pajamas."  
  
"You're mean," she called back to him.  
  
"You're a priss," he replied.  
  
"Am not!"  
  
"Are so."  
  
She sighed and walked in her room to raid her closet.

* * *

Rory looked around. "I haven't seen your mom yet," she said to Jess.  
  
"Yeah, that's because she didn't show," Jess replied.  
  
"Oh..." Rory bit her lip, trying to think of something else to say.  
  
"Dad!" Rachel called out, running toward him and Rory.  
  
"What?" he asked, looking up.  
  
"The guy has a turtle! He said I can stand on the turtle's back! Can I?"  
  
"Is that safe?"  
  
"I don't know. Can I?"  
  
He shrugged. "Sure. But don't fall off and don't break him."  
  
"Ok," she said happily as she ran back over to the insanely dressed man with a turtle at his feet.  
  
"I can't believe you hired him," Rory said, amused and glad for the change of subject. "He has a turtle and he lets people stand on it."  
  
"He has a hedgehog, too," Jess said.  
  
"Sonic?"  
  
"No, it's not blue, so I'm fairly certain it's not Sonic."  
  
"Nuts. He would be so much cooler if he had Sonic."  
  
"Well, Sonic would have cost extra, and he's already charging me an arm and a leg not to mention my liver, so we had to live without Sonic before I lost an eye."  
  
"Well, they're very nice eyes," Rory replied.  
  
"Yes, that's why I need them."  
  
She nodded and took a bite of her cake. "You're a good dad," she told him seriously.  
  
He looked at her, slightly taken aback by the sudden statement. "Thanks," he said, unsure of how to respond since no one had ever said it to him before.  
  
She nodded. "You're welcome."  
  
"Rory," Rachel said, running back over to them. "Come stand on the turtle."  
  
"Ok," Rory said, shoving her plate and Jess and running with Rachel over to the turtle.  
  
Jess just smiled and shook his head as he took a bite of her cake.

* * *

When the party was starting to wind down and a few of the kids finally started leaving Rory and Rachel were sitting down eating more cake as they wore pink flamingo hats that the clown made for them. Rachel also had a balloon flower. Jess was trying to get all her presents together when one of the moms came over to him with a smile. "Hi, Jess."  
  
He looked up, trying to remember what her name was. When he couldn't he just responded with a simple, "Hey."  
  
"Need some help?" she asked.  
  
"Oh no, I got it. Thanks anyway."  
  
"You had quite a turn out, huh?"  
  
"Yep, cake tends to bring kids out of the woodwork."  
  
She laughed. "That's true. I'm sure Becka will be wound up for the rest of the night."  
  
He offered what he hoped was a polite smile and nodded.  
  
"Anyway, thanks for inviting us, Becka had a blast. And it was a pleasure to finally meet your wife."  
  
This got his attention. "My what?" he asked, turning on his heel.  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry, are you not married? Well, in any case, it was nice to meet Rachel's mom. I swear, they look so much alike."  
  
"Mom," a little girl called to her.  
  
"Coming," the woman called back. "Well, I have to go. Tell Rory and Rachel I said bye."  
  
Jess just stood there looking slightly bewildered. Then he turned and looked over at Rory and Rachel. Rachel was sticking stickers all over Rory's hat and Rory was smiling. He frowned slightly and looked at Rachel, then he shook his head and went back to bagging the presents.

* * *

"Do you two ever stop eating?" Jess asked as he hauled the big black garbage back full of presents into the apartment.  
  
"Not as long as there's still junk food left," Rachel replied.  
  
"And Skittles are nutritious junk food," Rory defended.  
  
"There's an oxymoron for you," Jess commented.  
  
"What's an oxymoron?" Rachel asked.  
  
"Contradictions. Things that don't make sense when used together, like say my wife, Rory."  
  
Rachel and Rory both frowned.  
  
"Or your mom, Rory. Both things that I've heard today. Where would anyone get that idea?" Jess asked as he looked at Rachel's face of guilt.  
  
"Or manly curtains," Rory threw out there. "Or sad birthday girl," she said pointedly at Jess.  
  
"Actually, Dad, your wife and Rory wouldn't be an oxymoron because you could marry her," Rachel offered.  
  
"Yes, and I could grow wings and fly, but I probably won't. Does that mean you go around telling people that your dad's a bird?"  
  
She folded her arms in her mad pose as he realized that his lecture was about to turn around on him. "No. It doesn't. But I don't think it's a stupid thing to want a mom and a dad, and it's not fair that everyone else has both and I don't!" she said before running off to her room.  
  
Rory just bit her lip and watched Rachel go down the hallway.  
  
Jess sighed. "I better go... say something."  
  
"Do you want me to?"  
  
He raised an eyebrow. "You?"  
  
She shrugged. "I think she might listen to me. Besides, I understand how she feels, I used to feel that way about my dad."  
  
He looked down the hall and then back at Rory. "Yeah, I guess you can try."  
  
Rory nodded and put the bag of Skittles in her pocket as she walked down the hall. She knocked on the door. "Rachel, can I come in?"  
  
"Uh huh," she muttered quietly.  
  
Rory opened the door and walked in, seeing Rachel face down on the bed with her head buried in the pillow. Rory shut the door and walked over to sit down on the bed. "Hey."  
  
"Hi," Rachel replied, sniffling.  
  
Rory instinctively rubbed Rachel's back. "Are you okay?"  
  
"Yeah," Rahel said unconvincingly.  
  
Rory just rubbed her back for a moment waiting to see if she wanted to go on, but when she didn't she continued. "You know, I understand how you feel about it not being fair that you only have one parent around instead of both like the other kids."  
  
Rachel looked over at her. "You do?"  
  
"Yep. When I was your age I only lived with my mom, and my school had one day a year where you could bring your dad to lunch with you. When all the other little girls would bring their dads in to have lunch with them I didn't have anyone to bring. Finally in third grade Luke went with me, but in first and second I had to eat lunch all alone, and I felt really angry with my dad for not being there because it didn't seem fair. So while all the other girls ate with their dads I would think how lucky they all were because they had a dad. But you know what?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"I was lucky in a different way. Because while I didn't have a dad around I did have my mom. And she loved me enough for both. You know what else I found out?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"There were other kids who didn't have both parents around too. After a while I started to think of it differently. It was like we were all in this secret club that the other kids weren't a part of."  
  
"But didn't you ever wonder why your dad didn't want you?"  
  
Rory smiled softly. "Honey, it's not that he didn't want me, just like your mother doesn't not want you, it's just that sometimes people aren't ready to be parents. My dad wasn't ready when I was born, but I was lucky enough that my mom was. And maybe your mom wasn't ready when you were born, but your dad was, and in my opinion you have a really great dad."  
  
Rachel smiled. "Yeah, I guess."  
  
"He hired the animal guy and a clown and someone to face paint for you. I never got all that. Ususally I didn't even get one, come to think of it. My mom invited Luke over one year and threw apples at him hoping he would juggle them, but they ended up just falling in the floor. One year I had a clown, but he wasn't a balloon clown, he was different, and he ended up arrested." She made a face. "Anyway, my point is that maybe you don't have a mom and a dad, but at least you have a really great dad. And now you can be in our secret club," she said with a wink.  
  
Rachel sat up and hugged Rory. "It would just be nice to have a mom, too."  
  
"I know. Maybe someday your dad will meet someone else, and while she may not be your mom she can do all the things with you that a mom would do."  
  
Rachel noddded. "You think so?"  
  
"Yes, I do." Rory nodded.  
  
"But how will my dad meet someone like that?"  
  
"I don't know."  
  
"How did you meet your boyfriend?"  
  
"I don't have one," Rory said. "In the past I've mostly just met them because they lived close to me."  
  
"Did you ever date my dad?"  
  
"Nope." Rory shook her head. "We were good friends though."  
  
"Do you like my dad?"  
  
Rory inwardly froze, wondering how to answer that, then wondering what the answer even was. "Of course, we're good friends," she decided to reply. "But you know, I should probably be going."  
  
"Couldn't you stay for a little bit longer?"  
  
"I don't know... I'll have to ask your dad."  
  
"We could make bracelets from that one kit I got today."  
  
"I'll go ask," Rory said standing up.  
  
Rachel grinned. "Ok."  
  
Rory walked in the other room just in time to see Jess put the phone down as he glared at it. He noticed Rory and looked up. "Is she ok?"  
  
Rory nodded. "Good as new. What did the phone do to you?"  
  
He rolled his eyes. "My babysitter just cancelled on me. I have to leave in 15 minutes, but my babysitter just called to say she couldn't make it. On what planet do you leave someone hanging with 15 minutes of notice?"  
  
"Well, you know, I could stay with her if you want. She was asking me to stay with her anyway so we could make those bracelets from the bracelet kit she got today."  
  
"Are you sure?"  
  
"Absolutely. I have nothing to do tonight anyway, so why not hang out with Rachel?"  
  
"Ok. Let me go ask her."  
  
Rory nodded and put the phone back on the hook the right way. Then she turned and watched him walk down the hall, her eyes drifting down his back to his jeans. Startled, she shook her head and looked at the phone. She glared at it. "No, I was not checking him out," she told it defensively.  
  
"Hey, kiddo," Jess greeted Rachel as he walked into her room.  
  
"Hey," she replied.  
  
"I have to run to the store, but Rory said that she could stay here with you. Would you mind if she put you to bed tonight?"  
  
Rachel's eyes lit up. "That would be great!"  
  
"Ok." He leaned down and kissed her on the forehead. "Good night, babe."  
  
"'Night, Daddy."  
  
He smiled. He had always liked when she called him that. "Get your pajamas on and Rory will be in in a minute."  
  
"Ok," Rachel said, hopping off the bed.  
  
Jess walked back out to Rory. "Thanks again for doing this," he said.  
  
"It's no problem. She's a sweetie."  
  
"Sometimes," he said.  
  
"Um, what was all that about oxymorons? I was sort of lost."  
  
"I have yet to get the whole story, I'll ask Rachel about it tomorrow, but I think she's telling the other kids that you're her mom."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"Yeah." He nodded.  
  
"She really wants one," Rory remarked.  
  
He nodded with a small sigh. "I know. I should have picked a better one for her. Then again if I would have actually been _planning_ to have a kid I may have been a little more picky."  
  
"It'll all work out," Rory assured him.  
  
He nodded. "Yeah."  
  
"I'm in my jammies," Rachel called down the hall.  
  
"I'll be right there," Rory called.  
  
"Ok, well, I'm going to go ahead and leave," Jess said.  
  
"Ok. See you when you get back," she said, pulling out the bracelet kit and heading down the hall.  
  
Jess bemusedly watched her walk down the hall, then he shook his head and walked out of the apartment. "My wife," he muttered. "Crazy woman."

* * *

When Jess got home a little after midnight he saw Rory fast asleep on the couch. He walked over to her and nudged her, but she didn't wake up. "Rory," he said. She didn't respond. He sighed and looked at the television set. He frowned when he saw the Golden Girls and he turned it off. He nudged her again. "Rory. Wake up." Rory didn't move. He sighed, giving up and pulled a blanket up over her. Then he ran a hand through his hair and decided he may as well go take a shower since she was not moving and he now had nowhere to sleep.  
  
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
**A/N:** Ok, I know I'm absolutely terrible. First I take an eternity to update and then I leave you guys not even knowing if poor Jess ever got to sleep or not. There's good news though. The next update will not take an eternity. In fact, I'm going to start on the beginning assoon as I'm done typing up and submitting this, because I'm on a roll. So if you would continue to be as awesome as you've been a leave me a review letting me know what you think I can try to be even faster!! (hugs you all) Hurry, the first 10 reviewers get another toy Milo! (waves toy Milos in the air) 


	7. Rise and Shine

Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own it. In fact, I don't even watch it anymore. So if I did own it that would make me a sucky owner, now wouldn't it? 

A/N: Ok, so remember how I said I was going to start that chapter? I did. I got it half done, in fact. But then things happened, I didn't get around to finishing it... My computer, the diva, as I now call her, decided it wanted to crash. Apparently its version of a tantrum. All of my chapter went bye bye and now I have nothing. So that's part of my explanation for why this update took so long. That and I had to buy a new computer because it was too much to fix the other one. So, now I have a new computer, a moch nicer computer that isn't a diva, and I can write again! And Cursed is out! So my inspiration is back. I rented the unrated one and bought the rated one, though, because I'm a big baby. Milo says the f-word! It's so much fun! Well, for me.

Oh, and a gigantic thank you to all my reviewers! You guys rock! I'm sorry it took so long! (throws out some more Milo dolls)

* * *

Rory shifted in her sleep and her arm fell. She frowned but didn't open her eyes. Then her nose perked up and she started sniffing, frowning. Did someone break into her apartment and make breakfast? She smelled bacon... and coffee. She opened her eyes and realized she wasn't on her bed, but on a couch. Her eyes widened slightly and she sat up, looking around. She wasn't in her apartment. She turned around, rubbing her eyes sleepily and spotted Jess in the kitchen, holding a plate and whistling to himself. Rory covered her face with a pillow to stifle a giggle. Jess was a whistler. She turned around again and grinned, trying to catch what he was whistling. 

Jess turned and looked at Rory, stopping his whistling and raising an eyebrow.

She grinned. "Do you sing in the shower, too?"

He smirked. "Come take one with me and you can find out."

She blushed and stuck her tongue out at him, standing up and stretching. "How come you didn't wake me up?"

"I tried. You sleep like a rock."

She nodded. "It's all the coffee."

He frowned. "Coffee makes you stay awake."

"Nope. It makes normal people stay awake. When you drink as much as I drink it puts all your senses to sleep and there's no way I could wake up, even if a bomb went off on the other side of my bed."

"Huh. And they say you're addicted."

She smiled. "The nerve."

He smirked and went back to his cooking.

Rory walked in closer and peeked over his shoulder. "What are you making?"

"Breakfast. Pancakes, bacon, potatoes, and biscuits."

She sighed happily. "Do you make the fluffy pancakes like Luke used to make?"

"They're pretty fluffy, yes."

"Oh, I love a man who can cook."

"Well, if the man can't cook you guys aren't going to eat," he pointed out.

"That's not true," she protested. "I made meatballs two months ago that were almost edible."

"Wow," he said mockingly.

She nodded. "I was quite proud of myself."

He smiled. "Have a seat, breakfast will be done in a minute."

"Want me to get Rachel's drink?" she asked.

He glanced over his shoulder. "If you want to."

"What does she like?"

"Milk with breakfast. It's a rule."

Rory smiled. "You have rules."

"Most parents have rules," he reminded her.

"I know, it's just funny to think of Jess Mariano setting house rules. And whistling," she added with a grin.

"Oh yeah, I'm a regular Ward Cleaver," he said sarcastically.

"You are," she said with a grin. "It's so cute."

He rolled his eyes. "Stop."

"What were you whistling?"

He raised his eyebrows and his spatula. "I will not feed you if you don't drop it right now."

She scowled and gave him a pout before turning around and getting the milk out.

Rachel came walking down the hall, rubbing her eyes. "Daddy, did you make breakfast?"

Jess looked over at her. "Yep. Pancakes."

"I like panca-" She stopped and her eyes widened when she saw Rory. "Rory. You're here."

"Yeah. I hope you don't mind," Rory said. "Your dad was going to let me have breakfast with you guys."

Rachel grinned. "Of course I don't mind." She looked over at Jess and grinned. "Good idea, Dad."

Jess smiled. "I thought you'd say that."

Rachel strutted over and plopped herself down in a seat, folding her hands together and smiling like a perfect little angel. Jess put the last pancake on the plate and brought the plates one by one over to the table while Rory got drinks. They both finished at about the same time, sittting down in their seats.

Rory smiled. "Do you pray before you eat?" she whispered to Jess.

He shot her a look. "Stop."

She giggled. "Sorry, I can't help it."

"This is nice," Rachel said.

Rory took a bite of her pancakes and sighed. "Heaven."

Jess smirked. "Good?"

She gave him a small rolling of her eyes and said, "Well, I guess it will have to do."

He raised an eyebrow and reached over, taking her plate and holding it away from her.

Rory gasped. "Food tease!"

"Well, if it isn't good enough for you..."

"It is good enough for me."

"How good?"

"Books will be dedicated to the food, shrines will be built, schools will be named after your pancakes."

He smirked and handed it back to her. "That's better."

She took the plate and gave him a dirty look before digging into her pancakes again.

"This is fun," Rachel remarked. "I like this."

"It's very good," Rory said.

Rachel just smiled and took a drink of her milk. "We should do this more. I like eating together. It's like we're a family."

Rory choked on her coffee and Jess' eyes widened.

"Oh, Dad, Lynne invited me over to her house for a sleepover party," Rachel said, as if she didn't understand why they were choking.

Jess took a drink of his milk and looked at Rachel pointedly.

She gave him her innocent look, that couldn't have been more fake had she batted her eyelashes and said, "What, Daddy dear?"

He just sighed and shook his head.

"Sleepovers are fun," Rory said, gathering her composure.

"Do you think so?" Rachel asked, smiling at Rory. "So do I. Maybe we could have a sleepover someday."

"Oh, yeah." Rory smiled at Rachel and took a bite of her pancake.

"Did you and Dad have a sleepover last night?"

"Rachel," Jess said, giving her a warning look.

"What? You should. They're fun."

Rory bit her lip, trying not to laugh. "Yeah, Jess, I've always heard sleepovers were very fun. Don't you like sleeping over with me?"

"If there was an actual _bed_ involved it would probably be a more enjoyable event. As it was last night my neck is aching and my back hurts."

"Why didn't you move me?"

"You were sleeping."

"Why didn't you wake me up and make me go home?"

"I didn't want to disturb you, you looked comfortable."

Rory smiled. "Well, thank you, but I have a comfortable bed at home. I feel bad now, you shouldn't have let me make you get a backache."

"I'll live," he said with a shrug.

"Dad, the sleepover's next weekend. Do you think I could go?"

"Uh, yeah, probably." Jess nodded at Rachel.

"Oh! Daddy, I made you a necklace," Rachel told him.

Rory smiled. "And I made you a matching bracelet."

"Wow," he said flatly. "Um... honey, I'm a man."

"I know," Rachel said. "But you did let me do your hair that one time, and Rory said some men wear necklaces."

"Yes, some do," he admitted.

"It's a very pretty necklace, Dad," Rory told him. "Rory said so."

"I'm sure it's beautiful," he said, shooting a look at Rory, who just grinned.

"I think the colors will bring out your eyes," Rory said with a nod.

Jess just shook his head and went back to his food.

* * *

Rachel sat in the floor going through her birthday toys and setting them in different stacks. Rory took a sip of her coffee and walked into the livingroom where Jess was sitting on the couch and started massaging his neck, ironically causing him to stiffen. 

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Relax, I'm not going to assasinate you, I just want to make up for the uncomfortable sleeping arrangements." He relaxed a little and she conitued. "So... how's work?"

"God."

"No, I'm Rory," she said as if correcting him.

He smiled slightly. "No, I know. It's just... this is a little bit weird," he said.

"What is?"

"All of this. The sleeping together- well, not sleeping together, but you know what I mean. Then breakfast and now you're rubbing my shoulders and asking how work was. It's... weird."

"I'm sorry, I'm not trying to make you feel weird. I can be quiet if you want."

"No, it's just... I'm not used to it, that's all."

"Um, how about something more... whatever. Rachel. We can talk about Rachel, right?"

He nodded, closing his eyes.

"Next weekend Rachel said there's a sleepover, didn't she?"

He gave an affirmative grunt.

She smiled. "Well, are you going to let her go?"

"I don't know. I have to call Lynne's mother first."

She nearly chuckled again. "It's so cute when you act like a daddy."

"I AM a daddy, genius."

"I know, but it's just cute."

"Hey Rory," Rachel said.

"Yes?"

"Should I put a heart or a star on the teapot?" she asked, holding a paintbrush in the air.

"If you're going to paint that thing you are not doing it without newspaper on the flloor," Jess stated.

"Where is the newspaper?" Rachel asked.

"There's some in the cabinet under the sink," Jess said.

Rachel got up and scampered off to the little kitchen area, Jess smiling slightly and then leaning his head back and letting Rory work her magic.

"You weren't a kid person, remember?" Rory remarked.

"It's different when it's yours," Jess said.

She nodded. "Yeah, I guess so." Rory glanced down at Jess' closed eyes and her eyes wandered down to his lips. Jess really had beautiful lips, the perfect size and shape. She loved how the left lower lip didn't move when he talked. She loved the way he looked, sleepy and relaxed. Without thought her hand wandered into that beautiful mass of dark hair and back down his neck, massaging his shoulders. Her gaze drifted down his neck to the base of his throat and her hands moved to that area, drifting a little bit more so that her fingers were lightly brushing his chest. Her gaze went back to his face and she saw him looking at her. She jerked her hands back and exclaimed, "God!"

"No, Jess," he replied, lightly mocking her.

Rory knew her face must be crimson, ironically making her blushe more. "Don't scare me like that."

"All I did was open my eyes," he told her.

"Well, warn me next time," she said, scowling at him.

"Sorry," he said innocently. "I wasn't aware I needed to warn you that I was opening my eyes.

Rory was flustered beyond repair at this point. What was she _thinking_? She was supposed to rub his neck in hopes that it wouldn't ache anymore, not take advantage of him while his eyes were closed. "I need to... I'll be back," Rory said, gesturing vaguely down the hall.

He nodded, watching her with the tiniest hint of a smirk. "You do that."

* * *

"I don't know why Kenny wants me to be his girlfriend," Rachel was saying as they walked out of the grocery store. 

"He probably likes you because you're smart and pretty and funny," Rory said.

"I know," Rachel said with no pretense of being humble. "But still. I don't want him to be my boyfriend, I just want to be his friend."

"It must be tough," Rory said.

"It is," Rachel said with a nod, swinging her bag in the air. She smiled up at Rory. "I'm glad you don't have a boyfriend."

Rory chuckled. "Well, me too."

"Have you had a lot of boyfriends?" she asked.

"No, not a lot."

"Did you have any when you were my age?"

"No. I didn't have my first boyfriend until I was 16."

"What was his name?" Rachel asked.

"Dean."

Jess muttered something under his breath.

"How long were you two together?"

"Oh, a little while," Rory said uncomfortably. "So, did Kenny ask you to be his girlfriend again?"

"No, he just reminded me that I was supposed to be thinking about it. How long is a little while?"

"A couple years," Rory said.

"Wow, that's a long time. How come you guys didn't get married or something?"

"It didn't work out that way," Rory said.

"Okay Rachel," Jess intervened. "You've asked enough questions about Dean. My stomach can't handle anymore."

"Did you have a boyfriend after Dean?"

Jess groaned. "Rachel."

"What? I'm curious, I can't help it. Did you?" she asked, looking up at Rory.

"Um, yeah, of course I did."

"When?"

"Well, I had a boyfriend in college."

"Just one?"

"No, two actually."

"How long did you date them?"

"I believe one was about a year and one only lasted six months or so. Has Kenny had a girlfriend before?"

Rachel frowned. "I'm not sure. Some people said he was dating Mackenzie Morley, but I can't imagine why he would want to be her boyfriend."

"I didn't know people dated that young," Rory remarked.

Rachel nodded. "His mom took them to the movies. Someone said they kissed, too, but I don't think I believe that."

"You know, I thought you hated grocery shopping," Jess remarked.

"Well, I don't mind it when Rory's with us," Rachel said.

"I love how important I am. I raise you, feed you, clothe you, and Rory's your hero."

"Dad, you're not a girl."

"I'm aware of that," Jess informed her.

"Sometimes women need to be around other women." She patted Jess on the arm. "It's nothing personal, Dad, just woman stuff."

He smiled. "Woman stuff, huh?"

"Yep," she said with a nod.

He rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"Kenny's smart, too," Rachel told Rory.

"Oh, is he?"

"Yeah." Rachel gasped and looked up at Jess. "Oh, Daddy, could we take Rory to the zoo? Kenny's mom took him to the zoo and he said the animals were great. Rory would love to see the animals."

"Why don't we make plans to take Rory to the zoo some other time?" Jess suggested.

The excitement on Rachel's face turned into forlorn disappointment. "Oh. Okay, Dad," she said quietly.

* * *

"Daddy, Daddy, the seal," Rachel said, taking a bite of her soft pretzel and running to point to the seals. 

Rory gave Jess an amused smile. "Does she always get her way?"

Jess nodded. "Yep. Half the time I don't even realize I've been dooped until hours later. I swear, someday she'll bring home an Oscar."

Rory grinned. "It's so funny. I've never known anyone but me to twist your arm like that."

"It must be you blue eyed, brown haired females."

"We can't help it if we're irresistable," Rory said with a shrug, walking up behind Rachel and looking in at the seals.

"Look, Dad, they're swimming around in circles," Rachel said.

He took a piece of her soft pretzel and ate it.

"Hey," she said, frowning at him.

"My money," he reminded her.

She gave him a half-hearted pout before turning to tug on Rory's shirt. "Do you like seals?"

"Yes, I do."

"I like zoo animals. One time when Daddy brought me here we were sitting on a bench and I was eating one of these," she said, gesturing to her soft pretzel, and a squirrel came right over and sat on the bench next to Dad. I wanted to get a picture, but he moved before I could."

Rory smiled. "Really?"

"Yep," Rachel said with a nod. "I love it here. We should ride one of the horse carriage thingies. Dad keeps telling me someday we'll take one but someday never comes."

"That does sound like fun, doesn't it?"

Rachel nodded enthusiastically. "I like them a lot. It makes me think of Cinderella except that it isn't closed in. One time it was though. Me and Dad were walking through the park and it started raining, and they pulled the thing up in the back and closed the people in. I want to ride one in the rain someday, too."

"I've seen that," Rory said with a nod.

"When we go on one someday will you ride with us?" Rachel asked, smiling up at Rory.

"Sure," Rory agreed with a smile.

"I don't like when it rains. Me and Dad get soaked," Rachel told her.

"I did that a couple times, then I started carrying an umbrella in my purse."

Rachel grinned and looked at Jess. "Isn't she smart?"

"Yes, Rachel, do you think we should keep her?" he asked mockingly.

Rachel just gave him a look and looked back over at Rory. "What were we talking about? Oh, that's right. And sometimes Dad brings me here and we just sit on the bench and read. That's fun, because you get to see all the people and hear the birds and stuff while you read."

"That is fun," Rory agreed with a nod.

"So, how many kids do you want?" Rachel asked.

Rory's eyes widened. "Kids?"

Jess just stared, momentarily without words.

"Yeah," Rachel said. "How many kids do you want? Do you want two or three? You should definitely have at least two, a boy and a girl. Maybe a girl and then have a boy and you're all done. Or more if you want."

"What if I just want one?"

"Oh, one isn't a good number. It's much better to have two," Rachel informed her. "And if you have a girl and she's older she could help you take care of a baby, like get diapers and stuff. Maybe a little brother," Rachel said with a nod.

"Rachel Catherine Mariano," Jess said.

Rachel winced at the use of her full name. "I can stop talking about kids if you want."

"That would be a good idea," Jess told her.

With a little pout and a little flounce -but not too much, as she didn't want to push him too far- Rachel made her way to the next part.

Jess just shook his head. "What am I going to do with that kid?"

Rory gave a sympathetic half-smile. "Find her a little brother."

Jess sighed and gave her a half smile. "Yeah, I'll just pick one up at Babies 'R' Us."

"Seriously, though," Rory said as they followed after Rachel. "Have you thought of dating? I mean, at all? I really don't think Rachel would be as opposed to it as you thought."

"I've thought about it, of course. But nothing sticks. Even if I go on a couple dates it seems like within a week or two it's over. And I don't want to do that to Rachel. When I was growing up my mother had a chain of boyfriends. You barely start to remember one's name and then the next one's coming in. I don't want Rachel to have that instability. I want her to have the kind of childhood I didn't have, and if that means I don't date it really isn't a big deal."

"I know, and I think that kind of dedication is great. But what about kids? Do you not want anymore? Are you going to wait until Rachel moves out to get married and have kids? Because I hate to point this out, but you won't exactly be that young, and everyone your age will probably be married, thus making it much harder to date."

"Are you seriously telling me to date someone just to do it?" He gestured to the left and in front of them. "She looks single, should I ask her to be Rachel's new mommy?"

Rory scowled. "No. Date someone you care about. I'm just saying you don't have to not date because you're a father. There are plenty of single and divorced fathers out there, and they're dating._Do_ you want more kids?" she asked.

"I don't know," he said. "I never really had time to make out a plan like that. Rachel was unexpected and seeing as I don't even have a mother for her I really wasn't that worried about another one."

"But say you met someone, and you fall in love with her and all the steps that come after that, but she wants a baby. I mean, she's crazy about Rachel," she said quickly. "But she wants another one, too. Would you want another one? Or no?"

"I don't know. I guess... maybe it would be nice to do it right. A mother and a father, baby shower, all that stuff."

She smiled and nodded. "Yeah."

He glanced over at her and some little devil inside prompted him to say, "There is this girl at work that has her eye on me..."

Rory's face fell a little bit, but she quickly tried to cover it, looking at Rachel and waving. "Yeah... See..."

Jess smirked a little at her tone. "Of course she's married," he drawled.

Rory looked over, startled at first, but at seeing him smirk she glared at him and elbowed him in the side. "You are not funny." Then, copying Rachel, she gave him a pout and flounced over to where Rachel was standing.

Jess shook his head and smiled to himself. Then he looked up and watched Rachel and Rory for a minute with a thoughtful look on his face. All day he had been stuck with that image of Rory's face when he opened his eyes, an odd look in her eye. He had felt her hands in his hair, that's what initially caused him to open his eyes, then he watched her further explore before she realized his eyes were open. There was definitely something there. And as he looked at Rory and Rachel, sharing the soft pretzel he bought and probably talking about stupid stuff, he realized that oddly the idea of doing the family thing right didn't sound half bad...

* * *

A/N: Ok, and there's chapter seven! Yay! I'll probably try to make it about ten chapters just so it's even, but I'm not sure. Please review and let me know what you think! Thanks!  
_-Kate_


	8. Sleepover

Disclaimer: I own Rachel and I've put a down payment on Jess, but I don't own him yet either. Sad. 

A/N: I'm updating! Finally! I kind of liked chapter seven, though, so I hope this one lives up to the standards. Anyway, this is a nice Lit-filled chapter. (Grin)

* * *

"What do you bring to a sleepover party?" Rachel asked before taking a bite of pizza. 

"Well," Rory said, putting her slice of pizza on the plate, "you usually take a sleeping bag."

Rachel nodded. "I have one of those. What else?"

"Clothes to change into and of course some cute pajamas."

She nodded. "I already picked them out. I'll show them to you when we get home."

"Okay," Rory said with a smile, taking a bite of her pizza. Then she looked over at Jess' meatball roll and looked at him with puppy dog eyes. "Is that good?"

"Yes, it is," he replied.

"It looks good," she said, looking at it again then back up at him. "I bet is tastes really good."

"Like a slice of heaven," he said, smirking at her.

She gave him her best Rory face and he sighed, holding it out for her to take a bite.

She grinned. "Thank you." Then she leaned in to take a bite, but he pulled his hand back right as she went to take a bite. She shot him a look and he just smirked. She tried again and he pulled it away again. She finally held his wrist so he didn't move his hand and she got a bite. "Brat," she said.

"Food thief," he replied with a smirk. "I would have bought you your own, you know."

"Yes, but it's so much more fun to eat yours," she replied.

"What do you do at a sleepover party?" Rachel asked.

Rory turned her attention back to Rachel. "Well... when I went to sleepover parties we would play games and eat pizza and dance. My mom had a slumber party for me when I was in first grade and we had an ice cream eating contest." Rory shook her head. "That turned out not to be such a good idea. But the games were great," she said. "Of course Mom didn't exactly do games that you guys would play," she said with a slight frown. "But Truth or Dare is a classic."

"What kind of games did your mom play?"

Rory smiled. "Just... games like Pin the Tail on the donkey... although she modernized it. We just played lots of games. Did your friend tell you what kind of games she would be having?"

Rachel shook her head. "No, not really. She said we were going to watch the move Sleepover, though. There's a kiss in it," she said with a smile.

"Don't be taking notes," Jess said, slanting a look at her.

"Well, Kenny does want to be my boyfriend, Dad. I should know how these things are done."

"I assume he also wants to live to see puberty; ask him which one he wants more."

Rachel scowled at her father. "You are such a dad."

"I blame you," he replied, taking a bite of pizza.

Rachel turned her attention back to Rory. "When was your first kiss?"

"It came with the first boyfriend," Rory replied.

"When you were 16?"

"Yes."

Rachel frowned slightly. "Hm. I guess I won't kiss anyone until I'm 16 then."

Rory smiled. "A very good age for a first kiss. But don't kiss anyone until you meet someone worth kissing, otherwise it isn't so much fun."

"Was your first kiss fun?"

Rory's eyes widened. "Um... it was just a kiss, really." She glanced down at her pizza and took a bite.

"How about you, Dad? When was your first kiss?"

"I don't remember."

"Were you 16?"

"I doubt it," he replied.

"Well, was it fun?"

He sighed. "Hey, she's your role model, quiz her."

Rachel gave her father a look and turned her attention back to Rory. "Did you ever kiss my dad?"

Rory's face reddened and she stared quite intently at her pizza.

"Rachel," Jess said in his warning tone.

"What?" she asked innocently.

"You ask too many personal questions, it isn't poilte."

"It gives me a rash."

His eyes widened. "What?"

She smiled. "When that pretty redhead made that remark to you about you not being polite you told her it gave you a rash to be polite."

Jess hid his smile behind the pizza and managed to say, "Well, that's because I have bad manners. And because I didn't know you were listening," he muttered. "Be polite like Rory."

Rory nodded. "Okay." She looked at Rory. "But did you ever kiss my dad?"

Jess sighed and Rory looked up from her pizza. "Well... um... we never dated or anything."

"So you didn't kiss?"

Jess pulled some money out of his pocket and handed it to Rachel. "Go get a Snapple."

She gasped and took the money, jumping out of her seat with a grin and running over to the line.

"Nicely done," Rory said.

He nodded. "I learned it's a great bargaining tool to deprive her of something she wants because you can always give it to her later and get out of just such a situation."

"I wasn't sure what you wanted me to say..."

"Well, we did kiss," he said, glancing over at her.

She blushed again, not looking at him. "Well, I know, but... I thought maybe it wasn't the best idea because then she would bring up the fact that we never dated and..." She shrugged slightly. "I just think it would be nicer to only tell her about my good role model moments."

"You've always been a good role model."

"I kissed you when I had a boyfriend. Probably not the best thing to teach your child. I much prefer her thinking the boyfriend and the kissing go together."

"Such a good role model," she said in a mocking tone.

She stuck her tongue out at him.

He smirked and shook his head. "Juvenile, but still a good role model."

Rachel flopped down in her seat, handing over the Snapple for Jess to open. He opened it and passed it back to her.

"Thank you," Rachel said.

"You're welcome," he replied, taking a slice of garlic bread.

"Can we stop at the store on the way home and get pudding?" Rachel asked.

"Sure," Jess said.

She looked over at Rory. "Are you going to come home with us?"

"Do I get pudding?" Rory asked with a smile.

"Of course," Rachel said with a nod. "And vanilla wafers."

"I wouldn't pass up pudding and vanilla wafers."

Rachel smiled. "Dad makes really good pudding."

Jess shook his head, taking a drink of his pop. "I make really good fly soup, too, you should try it sometime," he told Rory.

"Behave," she said with a smile. "It's cute."

"It's cute when I behave?"

"I wouldn't know," she replied. "You never behave long enough to let me observe."

"Well, what fun would I be if I did that?"

She leaned in and took another bite of his meatball roll and smiled, not replying as she turned her attention back to Rachel. "So, we have to make sure you have a toothbrush, pajamas, extra pajamas-"

"Extra pajamas?"

Rory nodded. "You never know."

Rachel nodded. "Okay. Will you help me pick out my extra pajamas?"

"Of course I will," Rory replied.

"You should stay with Dad and keep him company while I'm gone. He'll get lonely," Rachel said.

"Yes," Jess said, leaning in suggestively and raising his eyebrows. "I'll get lonely."

"I don't know what he did before he had me," Rachel said, shaking her head.

"I staggered around waiting for you," Jess replied.

Rachel nodded. "You probably did. Sorry I didn't get here sooner." Then without missing a beat she said, "When did you and Rory know each other?"

"When we were younger," he replied.

"How old?"

"Uh, 17?"

"Yep," Rory verified.

Rachel nodded. "You could have had me then."

"Yes, but then your mother would be blonde, and who knows what you would look like?"

Rachel frowned. "No, silly, you could have had me with Rory."

Rory smiled. "My mother would have loved that."

Jess nodded. "I wouldn't be here right now, kid, and your Aunt Lorelai would be behind bars."

Rachel scowled at them both and took a drink of her Snapple.

--oo00oo--

Saturday evening Rachel insisted that Rory had to come over and help her pack so she didn't forget anything, and then of course she had to come with Jess to drop her off. Her bag was, of course, already packed since she was so excited, so it wasn't long before they were ready to leave. When they got to her friend's apartment building Rachel pulled Rory off to the side and said, "Could you talk to my dad about the little brother thing? I'd really like one. Or even a little sister. I'll take either one."

Rory smiled. "I'll see what I can do."

Rachel smiled and impulsively kissed Rory on the cheek, then she hugged Jess and ran up the steps. Once she was safely inside Rory and Jess started walking down the sidewalk.

"So... Rachel's spending the night at Lynne's."

"Yep," Jess said.

"You have the night all to yourself," she continued.

"I don't remember what to do with a night all to myself."

Rory smiled. "Of course not, you're Daddy-fied now."

"I'm Daddy-fied? Is that what they taught you at Yale?" he asked with a smirk.

"Yes, it is," she said with a nod. Then she said, "You know, you guys never come to my apartment," she said.

"We've been to your apartment," he said.

"Yeah, but not much. Sometime you guys should come over to my place and I can order take-out. You always have to feed and entertain me, I don't think it would hurt to share the job. Besides, I have a pretty big apartment for New York, nice and... roomy."

"Roomy," he repeated with a nod, glancing at her.

She nodded, frowning slightly. "Yeah. It's very roomy. In fact, too roomy," she said.

"Too roomy," he repeated.

"Yes, too roomy. My books have their own room, that's how roomy it is." She silently asked herself if she was done babbling like an idiot.

"Rory," he said, slightly amused.

"What?" she asked, scowling.

"What's wrong?" he asked, smiling in amusement.

"Nothing's wrong." She looked down the street, feeling agitated. "Why aren't you dating anyone?" she asked.

He raised his eyebrows, clearly not expecting that. "What?"

"You heard me. Why aren't you dating anyone?"

"Didn't we already cover this?"

She sighed, annoyed with herself. "Yeah. Never mind." She glanced up at the crosswalk signal and walked across the street, Jess following.

"What are you doing tonight?" Jess asked.

"Going back to my apartment, I suppose."

"Your roomy apartment?"

"My roomy apartment," she verified. "I take it you're going to work?"

He sighed. "Yeah."

She smiled slightly. "Clearly you're excited," she said.

"Oh, yeah, I'm doing cartwheels."

"If you don't like the job why don't you quit? You'd have more time at home anyway."

"Rent," he said simply. "It makes it easier to afford living here."

"Do you have to work two jobs?"

"Well, we could get by with me only working one job, but it would be pretty tight. I want to be able to give Rachel the things Liz couldn't afford to give me."

She nodded. "You just have to give up a lot of nights."

He nodded. "Yeah, well... the rent in this city's ridiculous, and I want to put aside some money for Rachel. She might want to go to college or something."

She swallowed, telling herself to act like a normal person. "You could get a roommate, take some pressure off with the rent," she said.

"I can't get a roommate," he said. "For one thing there's no room. I don't even have a bedroom, so where would I put a roommate? And... you don't know who you can trust. I could get some psycho roommate or something."

She glanced down at her shoes and then casually up ahead of her. "I'm not a psycho."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

She shrugged with a forced casual air. "I... I have two bedrooms. My books don't actually need their own bedroom, although they probably are spoiled at this point. But my bed has drawers underneath it, and I could actually put them in there and take out the pictures and stuff in the bookcase in the living area, and... it really wouldn't be much trouble to move things around..." Her heart was in her stomach and she had half a mind just to... to... well, she couldn't take it back, but she didn't want him to feel weird. "I mean, it- it's just an idea. Probably not even a good idea," she went on. "Probably a bad idea. You probably wouldn't like it, and... you wouldn't want to. Not that it's a big deal or anything, because it isn't. I just thought with my place being so roomy and your place not being so roomy, and... and the rent is good, my rent's perfect, and I mean, I've been doing it alone and I'm absolutely fine, so the rent isn't a problem, just whatever you can afford, or nothing even, because I make pretty good money and my apartment isn't that expensive. And it's a really good location, too. But like I said, it's just an idea. Don't feel pressured or anything, because you're not, and if you don't want to I completely understand. You probably don't want to uproot Rachel anyway and... just... I was- I don't know." She shook her head, glancing down. "I just thought then you wouldn't have to work a job you hate and you coucld save money for Rachel and... I don't know."

"Rory?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you take a breath at all?"

She sighed, smiling and pushing her hair behind her ear. "Yeah, just... ignore me."

"Are you retracting your offer?"

"No," she said too quickly. Then she blushed a little. "I mean... I just don't want you to think that if you don't want to do it things will be weird. They won't be," she told him. "It's completely okay if you're comfortable where you are. I just... I just thought I'd offer. I mean, we've been getting along and..."

"Rory?"

"Yeah?" she said, looking over at him and stopping as she realized he had stopped.

He smiled slightly and stepped forward, tilting her head up to his with his thumb and he gave her a soft kiss.

She blushed a little, looking down then back up at him. "That was nice," she said.

"That was nice," he agreed.

"I think we should do it again," she told him.

"I like the way you think," he said, backing her up so they weren't in the middle of the sidewalk and kissing her, smiling into the kiss when her arms went around his neck. She trailed butterfly kisses along his jaw and down to his neck and she said quietly, "Do you really have to go to work tonight?"

"I... could probably call in," he said, leaning in and capturing her lips again, deepening the kiss this time.

"That would probably be a very good idea," she said in between kisses.

"And we should probably... get me to a phone," he said.

"And we should probably not do this in the middle of the sidewalk."

His arms dropped to circle her waist and he smiled slightly, kissing her on the nose. "You're probably right."

She grinned and kissed him on the nose right back. "My place is closer," she said.

"I like closer," he said.

"I'm a fan of it myself." She took his hand and started walking down the sidewalk, stifling the urge to stop just so she could kiss him again. Her apartment was close. Very close. Just a block or so away. "Come on, speed it up," she said, pulling his arm.

He chuckled. "Somebody's eager."

"Well, you're a good kisser, that's not my fault," she said.

"I take the blame entirely."

"And you need to call in so they can find someone else to cover for you," she added.

"Very responsible," he said with a nod.

"Of course. So come on."

He smiled and leaned in to nibble on her ear, causing her to stop. "I think you want me," he whispered teasingly.

She smiled and yanked on his arm. "Come on, Mariano, I don't have all day."

"As you wish," he said.

--oo00oo--

He was no more than hanging up the phone when Rory started pulling him down the hallway.

"Down girl," he said with a laugh.

"Do you want to get laid or not?"

"Very much so," he replied.

"Then get your butt in my bedroom right now."

"Ooh, feisty."

She shot him a mock glare and shoved him in her bedroom, shutting the door behind her. Then she smiled. "Hi."

He raised an eyebrow. "Hi."

Then she wrapped her arms around him and started kissing him, wasting no time in pulling his shirt off and shoving him on the bed.

--oo00oo--

Jess held Rory in his arms, idly running his fingers through her hair as she traced shapes on his stomach and chest.

"That was wonderful," Rory stated, smiling up at him.

He smirked at her. "I agree."

"We have to do this more often, I think."

"I think you're right," he said. "So why didn't you tell me?" he asked without missing a beat.

She bit her lip and gave him innocent eyes. "Tell you what?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Tell me what," he repeated slowly. "Hm. I wonder."

She sighed, looking back down at his chest. "Was I that bad?"

He tilted her face up to his. "Never utter those blasphemous words again," he said. "I just would have rathered you tell me before."

"It was... weird," she said, frowning.

"Weird?"

"You think it's weird," she pointed out.

"I don't think it's weird, Rory, I'm just surprised. Really surprised," he admitted.

"You think it's weird. Why wouldn't you think it's weird? It is weird. My own mother thinks I'm weird."

"I think we've filled the quota for how many times to use the word weird in one day."

She sighed. "I would have told you, but... well, it didn't come up. We didn't exactly discuss this before it happened."

"No, but I think somewhere between ripping my shirt off and toppling into the bed you could have said, 'By the way, Jess, I'm a virgin.'"

"I'm 27, I didn't figure you'd notice."

"How could I not notice?"

She scowled. "Rude."

He sighed. "I didn't mean that. I mean... did you forget the physical aspects of virginity? I'm pretty sure the initial pain doesn't really go away when you hit a certain age."

"It wasn't that bad," she muttered.

"I have nail marks on my shoulders that say otherwise. I could have prepared you better, Rory, it didn't have to be that... fast."

"Jess, did I seem patient to you? If you would have tried to slow the pace anyore I very well may have tied you to the bed and had my way with you."

He smirked. "Promise?"

She smiled and smacked him lightly in the stomach. "Stop it."

"I'm serious, I want a rain check."

"Then you're going to have to get Rachel to go to more sleepovers."

He kissed her. "I could send her to your mother for a week," he said thoughtfully.

She chuckled. "You are not sending her to another state."

He sighed. "Are you sure? Just for a few days," he said, pulling her hand up and kissing each finger.

"You know, if you move in I might be willing to share a bed with you," she said.

"But I might try to take advantage of you," he said.

"Promise?" she said, imitating his smirk.

"Absolutely," he said. She smiled and rested her head on his chest, sighing contentedly. "Tell me something," he said.

"Hm?"

"Why have you never had sex before? Not that I'm complaining," he added. "I'm not. Now I get to be territorial and canine and act like a caveman because I claimed my territory."

She smiled. "A caveman, huh? Are you going to dress like Fred Flinstone and tote around a club?"

"I might," he said with a nod. "Now stop playing me and avoiding the question."

"I don't know," she said with a sigh. "The timing just... never seemed right. I mean, it's not like no one wanted to, it was just... I didn't really... feel that sort of attraction to most of the guys I dated. I only really felt the urge to sleep with someone with one person. And then for years after that I just... I couldn't make myself settle, I could not just sleep with someone to do it. And then that just led to even bigger complications, because once you get to a certain age people do not expect you to be a virgin, and guys start getting ridiculous, so you can't even go on a date without them expecting sex. And then it annoyed me. I mean, why do they think because they bought me dinner I should sleep with them? I can buy my own dinner. I don't need them to buy my dinner, I don't need them groping me. And when you start to think of it like that it sort of loses all of its appeal anyway, and... I mean, of course I was attracted to men, but... not like that again. Nothing in comparison. And then that was another problem. I kept comparing them, which wasn't fair, but I did. You're too tall, you're too blonde, you're too dumb, your eyes are too blue. I got absolutely ridiculous. I was starting to think there was something seriously wrong with me."

"Well, why didn't you sleep with the first guy, the one you... wanted to sleep with?"

"Because... I was seeing someone else."

"Why didn't you break up with him and date the other guy?"

She hesitated. "I didn't want to ruin our friendship... Plus... you left."

His eyebrows shot up. "Me?"

She nodded. "I was even planning on breaking up with Dean, but then... your father, you went to stay with Jimmy. And then we never saw each other, and then you moved to New York and you... had Rachel..."

He opened his mouth to speak but then he shut it. "Huh," was all he came up with. Then he smirked a purely male smirk. "So you've never wanted anyone but me?"

She gave him a look. "Reign in the ego, Mariano. I didn't say that. I just said I never wanted anyone enough to actually sleep with him."

"Same difference," he said with a shrug.

"My first boyfriend in college tried to get me into bed quite fervently, I'll have you know."

"You were saving yourself for me, that's so cute," he said teasingly.

"I was not," she said. "I just didn't feel the same way. Plus, sometimes when he kissed me he slobbered all over me, and it was gross. Then my boyfriend after that had really bad breath all the time, and I gave him so many Altoids it wasn't even funny. Then there was the boyfriend that dated me as a cover because he didn't want to be openly gay, and obviously he never tried anything. Then, like I said, after that it got to the point where everyone expected sex, and I found that annoying. I told my mom, but she said it was normal." She shrugged. "Maybe it is, but it's still annoying. So I didn't date a lot after that. Well, I didn't get past the second date."

"We haven't been on a date yet," he pointed out.

She smiled. "Well, after 27 years of being a virgin I was in the mood to slut it up. I fully intend to make up for lost time, too. Do you have a problem with that?"

"Is that a serious question?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

Before she had a chance her phone started ringing. She groaned and yanked the covers up around her, then she leaned over Jess and grabbed her phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey, babe."

She sighed. "Hi, Mom."

Lorelai snorted. "You sound excited to talk to me."

"Sorry. What are you doing?"

"Oh, just calling you. I'm bored."

"Well... great. What do you want me to do about it?"

"Oh, I know! Sing."

"I'm not singing."

"Aw, come on. I gave you life, child."

"Yes, and unless you want to lose yours I suggest we leave my voice unheard. Do you not remember Sherry's baby shower? I can't sing. It's the one talent I was born without."

Jess wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and pulled her down, kissing her neck.

Without meaning to Rory giggled as she half-heartedly pushed him away.

"Why are we laughing?" Lorelai asked.

"Huh? Oh. Uh, Mom, could I maybe call you back... tomorrow?"

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing, but I need to go."

"Yes, you do," Jess agreed.

Lorelai gasped. "Was that a man?"

"No, a very masculine woman," Rory replied sarcastically.

"Do you have a boy over?"

"Mother, I am a grown woman, if I have a man over do you really want to hear about it?"

"Well, no. But I thought you had taken a vow to be a virgin for life or something."

Jess sighed and eyed the phone.

"Just a minute, Mr. Impatient Pants," Rory murmured. "Mom, I have to go before Jess eats the phone."

Lorelai gasped again. "Jess? Jess is the boy you have over?"

Rory grimaced. "Oops. Uh, yes, Jess is the boy I have over."

"Hello, Lorelai," Jess said.

Lorelai giggled. "You slept with Jess! I am so telling Luke."

"Okay, you do that. I have to go now," Rory said.

"Buh-bye."

Rory hung up the phone. "Well, Luke's about to hear about something he didn't want to know."

Jess smirked. "He would have found out eventually," he said, returning his attention to her neck.

"Wait," she said.

"We were making up for lost time, remember?"

"Yes, and we will continue doing that in a minute, but first we should talk."

He sighed, leaning back in the bed. "Talk away."

"What are we going to tell Rachel?"

He shrugged. "I think she'll get the picture."

Rory frowned. "But that isn't the right way to do it. We need to talk to her. Should we tell her we're together, or would that make things weird for her? Maybe we should keep it a secret."

"I don't see why we should. Rachel adores you, she would be happy that we're together. She's been trying to push us together practically since she met you."

"I know, but... it still might be a strange transition."

"Then we'll work it out. I don't want to keep us a secret, Rory."

"Well, it's not that I want to, either. I just want to make sure we think about how this will affect Rachel."

He nodded. "I promise to always consider Rachel's feelings." He shook his head. "Is she your daughter or mine, because I thought the single parent was supposed to be the one overly concerned?"

"Well, she does resemble me," Rory pointed out.

"Do not say that when I'm having impure thoughts about you," he said with a grimace.

Rory grinned. "Oh, I forgot, Rachel also wanted me to talk to you about this only child situation."

"What about it?" he asked with a sigh.

"She doesn't like it. She wants a sibling. Brother, sister, she doesn't care. She informed me that she would appreciate if I would ask if you ever planned on remedying that."

"I have a better idea. Instead of talking about it, we can practice. I may have forgotten how babies are made."

"Oh yes, that's a liklihood," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Absolutely," he agreed, kissing her neck and rolling her back onto her back for some more practice.

* * *

A/N: A great big huge thanks to all my lovely reviewers! (Tosses out Milo stickers) In fact, I'm going to thank you each individually this time because this chapter was a complete pain and it took way longer to get out than I planned. (Blush) In the interest of staying Pg-13, I also glossed over their love scene, giving only the before and after. (Sigh)

literatiever:) Thanks! I'm glad you love the story. I hate Rory for sleeping with Dean, too, and even Logan for that matter, because... why not? Add it to the list. But she didn't sleep with them in my story! Isn't that nice? If she would have slept with Dean... well, someone would have hacked into my account, because I could never bring myself to write that. My poor fingers would probably fall off. I hate Dean. Yucky. (Gags) And yeah, I like her maternal instincts, too. They tend to write themselves, though. (Grin) I adore DaddyJess. Thanks for the review!

jlangblues: Erika! Hi! (Waves) Yeah, the story came back. :) I missed Rachel, too, really. I don't know what I'll do when I finish the story. Thanks for reviewing! (By the way, so sorry if you e-mailed me and I didn't respond, but when I tried to sign into my account it had closed because I had apparently gone too long without checking it. (Blush) So... that would be why. (Blush again))

chels: (Grin) Thank you! I'm glad you love the story. I definitely love the Jess being a parent. I just think he would make a cool parent. Well, I mean, someday I'm sure he will, but... we need to be able to read about it. I definitely thought the Literati world needed a little bit of light hearted fluff. Sometimes angst is just too much. :) Thanks for reviewing!

kk: Aw, I'm glad you like it! Thanks you! And look, I updated! (Grin)

X-identaty: Good, I'm glad you like it! Sorry I didn't update sooner. (Blush) Thanks for reviewing!

whatever13245: (Blush) Wow, thank you. I'm really glad you like it! I actually did get a chance to go to New York (squeal) but I didn't get to stay very long. I have a better feel for it now though. I wish I lived an hour away. (Pines for New York) I'm really glad you liked the story, though! Oh, I heart Milo, too! (Grin) Thnk you so much for the lovely review!

Francesca Jones: Lol, I love Daddy!Jess! I'm glad you like the story! Thank you so much for reviewing!

lex: Aw, thanks! I'm glad you like it! Hoped you liked this chapter! Thanks for reviewing!

xbrokenxheartedx: Lol, it's sad when the f-word can be cute, but of course he could make it cute. (Hugs Milo) Glad you like the story! Sorry I didn't update sooner:(

bobabuildergrl: Aw, thank you so much! I tend to lean towards AU stories, too. Mostly because current stuff is so... not making my Literati heart happy. Lol, yes, it seems to be the consensus that Daddy Jess is just wonderful. (Sighs happily) I just love when he's a father. It would be a crime for that man not to reproduce. :) Thanks for the great review!

smile1: Aw, thank you! I'm really glad you liked the chapter! Thanks for being such a faithful reviewer! (Grins and gives you a cookie)

petitos grasshoppertje: I'm sorry I took so long:( Thanks for reviewing:)

Mariah: Aww! (Hugs you) Thank you so much! That was such a sweet review! I'm glad you liked it! And of course you can have an animal-like Milo toy! (Hands you a cute little Milo toy) Take a sticker, too. :D Again, thank you so much for reviewing, and I'm really glad you liked the story!

gilmoreaddict: Lol, I like the way you think! Up there's more! Hope you enjoyed!

Lise88: Thank you! I'm really glad you like it. I try to keep the characters in line while allowing for growth... I'm glad you like it! Thanks for reviewing!

Dione Robertson: In chapter seven Jess remarked that Rory and Rachel were blue eyes, brown haired females("It must be you blue eyed, brown haired females."). I didn't give an official description though, did I? (Blush) Sorry about that. And I addressed the money issue in this chapter. He could make it, but it would be tight, and he wants to save some money in case Rachel wants to go to college. And of course his rent's pretty high, living in Manhattan and everything. :) Thanks for reviewing!

Whew, I think that's everyone! If not, throw stones at me and demand a second Milo toy:) Anyway, I hope you guys liked it. :)


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